- Changan has created an AD Coordination and Development Department to operationally merge Avatr and Deepal back-end functions while keeping front-end marketing and products independent, driven by cost and scale pressures.
- Deepal sold 28,659 vehicles in August and 222,028 year-to-date through August, with cumulative overseas sales of 52,647; Avatr delivered 8,082 in August and about 43,327 year-to-date, down 48.7%.
- The combined 1.5 million 2030 sales target (500,000 Avatr, 1 million Deepal) faces execution risks from Avatr’s weak current volumes, IPO timing implications, and the challenge of achieving claimed 20–30% cost synergies.
The integration of Avatr and Deepal, two brands under Changan Automobile, has moved from strategic planning into concrete organizational restructuring, according to a Chinese media report.
Changan Automobile recently announced the establishment of an AD (Avatr, Deepal) Coordination and Development Department as a first-level department responsible for coordinating operations between the two brands.
Based on the organizational structure disclosed so far, the AD department will include several second-level units, including the Planning and Cooperation Department, Market and Product Department, Human Resources Shared Services Center, Finance Shared Services Center and General Affairs Department.
These units will take over relevant businesses entrusted by Deepal and Avatr.
At the same time, Avatr plans to establish shared or coordination centers for areas including styling design, product development and platform technology, taking over some operations for Deepal.
Deepal, meanwhile, will eliminate certain business units and their subordinate organizations.
The restructuring is a continuation of the plan outlined at Changan Automobile’s global strategy conference in April this year.
The company said at the time that Avatr and Deepal would pursue strategic coordination under a model of “front-end independence and back-end collaboration.”
Under the model, the two brands will continue to operate independently in marketing and product management while sharing resources across R&D, supply chains and corporate functions.
Changan Automobile Chairman Zhu Huarong previously said that resource integration and synergies from greater scale could potentially reduce costs by 20% to 30%, with the company planning to complete the integration by the end of this year.
The two brands also currently show a marked difference in operating performance.
Deepal sold 28,659 vehicles globally in August, bringing its sales for the first eight months of the year to 222,028 units, up 11.77% year on year.
Overseas sales accounted for 52,647 units of the total, up 76.98% year on year.
On the same day, Deepal’s 1 millionth vehicle rolled off the assembly line, a brand-new Deepal S07.
Avatr operates at a much smaller sales scale. The brand delivered 8,082 vehicles in August, its third consecutive month of sequential growth.
But its cumulative deliveries for the first eight months stood at approximately 43,327 units, down 48.7% year on year.
For Changan, the coordination between the two brands therefore involves not only internal efficiency but also Avatr’s current sales performance and Deepal’s need to continue expanding its scale.
The integration also comes as Avatr prepares for a potential public listing, meaning progress on the new organizational structure could have implications for the timing of its IPO.
Avatr resubmitted its listing application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on June 30, with the prospectus valid through Dec. 31.
Its previous prospectus, filed for the first time last year, expired in May after reaching the six-month validity period.
Chen Zhuo, president of Avatr Technology, said at a communication meeting in April that the strategic restructuring with Deepal would not affect Avatr Technology’s plans to list in Hong Kong.
Under Changan Automobile’s plan announced in April, Avatr and Deepal are targeting combined annual sales of 1.5 million vehicles by 2030.
This include 500,000 units for Avatr and 1 million for Deepal, with overseas sales accounting for more than 40% of the total.
