Leapmotor A-segment BEV to sell in Europe at under €19k

The T03 A-segment BEV that will be sold in Europe by Leapmotor Intenational, a 51:49 joint venture (JV) between Amsterdam-headquartered OEM Stellantis and its Chinese partner Leapmotor, will have an indicative price of €18,900 (c.$21,050) when it becomes available at the end of this month.

The JV’s C10 D-segment e-SUV, with an advertised range of 420km, will be available from €36,400 and is planned to arrive at dealerships in October. Orders will open for both models “in the coming days”, says Stellantis.

The T03 is a compact car boasting 265km of range but also, according to its developers, the interior space of a B-segment vehicle. It is unlikely to win any beauty contests — rather unfortunately resembling a ’90s Nissan Micra with its nose staved in — and clearly shows its heritage as a vehicle originally developed for the Chinese market.

But Stellantis appears confident that its “competitive price” — along with strong tech and the additional interior space afforded by innovations such as an integrated controller — will outweigh what it euphemistically describes as a “distinctive exterior”.

It also stresses strong safety features, such a robust body-cage structure, continuously laser brazing along all the roof lines , a one-piece, all-aluminium alloy anti-collision beam, high-strength steel across 60pc of its body, a design created to effectively absorb energy from potential collisions. It trumpets a hardware platform boasting three cameras, 2-mm wave radars, and three ultrasonic radars, allowing for the implementation of up to 10 advanced diving assistance system (ADAS) functions, offering Level-2 assistance intelligent driving.

The ADAS system features functionalities like lane departure warning and lane keeping assistance, while the adaptive cruise control automatically adjusts speed based on the preceding vehicle and the forward collision warning and automatic emergency brake intervene if there is any imminent danger. It also includes intelligent speed assistance and other functions like driver drowsiness warning, blind spot detection and door opening warning.

But, while Stellantis can point to the T03 placing first in the compact BEV segment in a 2023 Initial Quality Study by consultancy JD Power, it cannot point to the vehicles having been “designed to satisfy the highest [European] standards in terms of safety, as the C10, which has been explicitly developed for international markets, can. So it remains to be seen if the T03’s more Chinese origins will discourage any potential buyers.

Leaning heavily on Stellantis’ existing distribution channels, Leapmotor International is aiming to increase the number of sales points of Leapmotor vehicles to 350 by the end of 2024. The product roadmap calls for one model a year is planned to be released over the next three years. The first European markets that will see vehicles on sale by the end of the year are Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxemburg, Malta, The Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Switzerland, and the UK.

From Q4, commercial operations will also be expanded to the Middle East & Africa ( initially Israel and overseas French territories), the Asia-Pacific region (Australia, New Zealand, Thailand and Malaysia), and South America (Brazil and Chile). Stellantis has high hopes for the JV playing well in non-European markets.

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