CHINESE electric vehicle (EV) maker Leapmotor is little known outside its home country, and even there it is overshadowed by bigger players such as BYD and Tesla.
But co-founder and chief executive officer Zhu Jiangming expects that to all change soon, after striking a potentially transformational deal with Stellantis – the maker of Chrysler, Fiat, Jeep and Peugeot cars – that will take Leapmotor’s EVs to the rest of the world.
“The original motivation to start Leapmotor was because the transition from internal combustion engines to EVs represents an amazing opportunity,” Zhu said. The partnership with Stellantis will “allow us to take the lead and go faster than some other Chinese automakers”.
The deal with Stellantis shows how quickly China’s new breed of EV upstarts have shaken up the global auto industry. Founded in 2015, Zhejiang Leapmotor Technology, as the company is formally known, delivered just over 33,000 vehicles in the first quarter, a fraction of the 624,398 shipped by BYD and the 1.3 million Stellantis delivered. Still, that puts Leapmotor near the top of China’s EV upstarts such as Li Auto, Huawei Technologies-backed Aito, and Nio.
The attraction for Stellantis though, is Leapmotor’s technological know-how, which has allowed it to offer affordable EVs still packed with features such as advanced driver assistance and intelligent cockpits that are the industry’s new battlefront as cars get smarter and more connected.
For instance, Leapmotor’s flagship C10 electric sport utility vehicle costs 138,800 yuan (S$25,727) and comes with a range of 530 kilometres, winning comparisons with Tesla’s Model Y, which starts at 249,900 yuan in China.
