(Yicai) Dec. 31 -- Deepal Automobile Technology, the electric vehicle unit of Chinese car giant Changan Automobile, has set its annual global sales target at 500,000 units next year, with 20 percent coming from overseas markets.

Deepal's monthly deliveries reached 36,000 units as of yesterday, exceeding 30,000 for the third straight month, President Deng Chenghao said at a ceremony to mark the Chongqing-based carmaker's 400,000th vehicle roll off the assembly line on the same day. It shipped 207,307 autos in the 11 months ended Nov. 30.

According to Deng's previous statement, Deepal will achieve profitability when its monthly sales exceed 30,000 units.

The impact of cars' level of intelligence on competitiveness will grow next year, Deng told Yicai, noting that all Deepal models come with Level-2+ smart driving systems as a standard feature. Autos' intelligence capability will also become increasingly important for pricing, he added.

On the same day, Deepal announced it would launch more globalized products next year, likely covering 81 countries. However, the company will have a different competitive strategy overseas and domestically.

"China has completely shifted from electrification to intelligent electrification, while overseas consumers do not yet have a strong awareness of smart driving," Deng pointed out. "If we insist on pushing products priced based on their level of intelligence to overseas users, it will be a misalignment of demand."

Changan Auto's first overseas EV factory is expected to go live in the first quarter of next year in Rayong, Thailand. Deepal's S05 model is among the first batch of the products the Thai plant is scheduled to make, helping to ease delivery pressure in markets outside of China.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Martin Kadiev