Stellantis-Leapmotor JV targets Europe's mass market with 6-vehicle range

Leapmotor, the Stellantis-backed Chinese automaker, will expand its lineup in Europe to included small and compact models in 2025, CEO Zhu Jiangming said.

Stellantis on Tuesday said it would distribute Leapmotor’s T03 electric minicar and C10 midsize electric SUV in nine European markets starting later this year. The cars will be built in China.

Next year, Leapmotor will export a compact SUV code-named A12 and another compact model identified as the A03, Zhu said Tuesday at a news conference with Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares.

The compact models will be followed by two small models, one an SUV, code-named T05 and T11, Zhu said. Leapmotor did not offer more details on the coming models.

The addition of the small and compact models would give Leapmotor a six-vehicle lineup (see chart, below) to match that of SAIC’s MG brand, the most successful Chinese automaker in Europe. MG sold 58,491 cars in Europe in the first quarter of this year, a 31 percent increase over the same period in 2023, according to figures from Dataforce.

MG has grown its share thanks to a competitive range of budget-priced small and compact cars offering full-electric, hybrid and combustion-engine powertrains. The ZS small SUV was the brand’s biggest seller in the first three months, accounting for almost half the brand’s sales.

Another Chinese rival, BYD, has similarly grown its electric line-up in recent months, with sales reaching 7,701 in the first quarter, more than seven times the figure in the same period last year. 

The brand’s best-seller was the Atto 3 compact SUV, with 3,464 units sold. 

BYD Europe head Michael Shu recently said it’s thinking of reengineering its Seagull minicar for European sales. BYD will also offer a plug-in hybrid model, and is planning a factory in Hungary.

Stellantis expects EVs imported from China to account for 10 percent of the European market this year. "What I can try to do is leverage that dynamic,” Tavares said of a growing willingness of European customers to buy Chinese vehicles. "We need to compete head on with the Chinese."

The Leapmotor C10 will compete with the Tesla Model Y and VW ID 4, Zhu said at the press conference. The car was launched in March and has been designed to sell globally, the company said. 

It uses the company’s LEAP 3.0 technology architecture with a cell-to-chassis battery construction and centralized computer system dubbed the four-leaf clover, for integrating four separate electrical domains.

The car comes with a 69.9-kilowatt-hour lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery pack that offers a range of 420 km (261 miles) on the WLTP cycle, according to Stellantis.

Technology available in China on the C10 includes advanced driver assistance with automated navigation on certain main roads. Also available is vehicle-to-load technology that allows the car to be used as a power generator.

In China, the C10 is available as an extended-range plug-in hybrid with a 1.5-liter gasoline engine and a 28.4-kWh LFP battery. It has an electric-only range of 140 km.

Stellantis is evaluating whether to import the extended-range version, Tavares said.

“The extended-range versions will have to be homologated under the Euro 7 regulations, which of course means more lead time and more cost,” he said. The decision will be left to importers “on a case-by-case basis” he said.

Local European production of Leapmotor cars will depend on whether the EU increases import tariffs for Chinese auto imports to punitive levels or erects other barriers, Tavares said. Stellantis' Tychy plant in Poland could be a possible production location, he said.

Leapmotor will operate a separate model strategy in China compared to export markets, Zhu said. “In overseas markets we will focus more on the compact vehicles, while in China, we focus on larger vehicles,” he said. Leapmotor sells the C01 midsize sedan as well as the C16 large SUV in China.

In its home market, Leapmotor delivered 144,155 vehicles in 2023, up 30 percent from 111,168 in 2022.

The T03 minicar is the company’s cheapest model, starting from the equivalent of 6,400 euros before taxes for a version with a 21.6-kWh LFP battery. A larger 41-kWh battery has a range of 403 km on the Chinese cycle. It would compete with the Fiat 500e and the coming Renault Twingo EVs.

Stellantis said the T03 it will sell in Europe has a range of 265 km (165 miles) as measured on the WLTP cycle, without indicating battery size. Leapmotor also sells a version with a 31.9-kWh pack size.

Stellantis will offer a “very simplified” range of both models in Europe “to reduce complexity and inventory risk” Leapmotor International CEO Tianshu Xin told journalists. 

Leapmotor International is the name of the Stellantis-Leapmotor joint venture, with Stellantis holding 51 percent of the JV and 20 percent of Leapmotor overall.