A Rude Awakening for Deepal Owners
Imagine starting your car one morning, ready for your commute, only to be greeted by an unskippable ad on your infotainment screen. That’s exactly what happened to nearly half a million Deepal owners on May 27th. Instead of their usual startup display, they got a 5-second promotion for a 10,000 yuan (about 1,400 USD) discount on the company’s S09 model. The feeling was less “exclusive offer” and more “corporate intrusion.”
As one owner put it on social media, “I was completely shocked when I started my car this morning. This is shameless!” It was a sentiment that quickly echoed across the web, sparking a firestorm of criticism against the EV brand.
The Apology Tour
The backlash was swift and fierce. Customers felt the company, an independent brand under the state-owned giant Changan Automobile, had flagrantly disregarded their experience for a cheap marketing trick. Deepal quickly went into damage control mode.
The company issued a formal apology, explaining that its goal was simply to inform existing customers about an exclusive discount. They claimed many owners were visiting dealerships without even knowing about the available benefits. “We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience,” the statement read. “We acknowledge that this approach disrupted our customers’ driving experience. Moving forward, we will no longer use the vehicle’s infotainment system to push similar promotional notifications.”
CEO Deng Chenghao followed up with a personal apology, admitting the misstep was his. He explained that after meeting with customers, he realized many were unaware of the discount and instructed his team to raise awareness. “This was my mistake,” Deng said, “and I apologise and hope for your understanding.”
A Dangerous Precedent in the Connected Car Era
While the apologies were necessary, the CEO’s excuse feels flimsy at best. If the goal was simply to inform, a text message or an app notification would have done the job, even if it was still a bit annoying. Commandeering the central screen inside a privately owned vehicle is another level of invasive. It’s a classic “Black Mirror” moment where the convenience of smart, connected technology reveals its dark side.
Over-the-air updates and advanced driver aids are fantastic, but this incident shows how easily automakers can leverage that same tech to bombard users with ads. It’s a troubling peek into a potential future where your car’s features could be subsidized by advertising. It’s not hard to imagine a world with “low-priced ad-supported” trims and “high-priced ad-free” ones, a scenario no car enthusiast wants to see.
Deepal, which has been trying to make a name for itself with models like the recently upgraded Deepal S05, has learned a hard lesson. The intense competition in China’s auto market is pushing brands to be aggressive, but crossing this line was a major stumble. Trust, once lost, is incredibly hard to win back. Hopefully, other automakers are taking notes. The car is a personal sanctuary for many, not a rolling billboard.
