8:29 am, May 15, 2024
Stellantis has outlined its plans for Chinese EV brand Leapmotor with the outfit set to arrive in Britain next year.
Car Dealer reported last October that the international conglomerate had agreed a £1.3bn to sell Leapmotor’s cars outside of China and more details have now been announced.
The brand will arrive in Europe later this year with the first deliveries in Britain expected in early 2025, priced as low as £22,000.
At first just two models will be brought over, starting with the T03 – a small five-door supermini which will rival the Fiat 500.
It has a range of around 165 miles on a single charge and will aim to make a significant dent in the budget EV market.
Elsewhere, the firm will also release the C10 in a bid to take on the Tesla Model Y. The saloon has a claimed 261-mile range and an impressive 228bhp.
The C10 is set to be imported directly from China but Stellantis is said to be leaning towards building the T03 itself at its Tychy plant in Poland.
Both cars will be sold via Leapmotor International – a new wing of the division which was created as part of the Stellantis deal – of which Stellantis has a majority stake.
Jiangming Zhu, Leapmotor founder, chairman and CEO, said: ‘The partnership between Leapmotor and Stellantis demonstrates a high level of efficiency, opening a new chapter in the global integration of China’s intelligent electric vehicle industry.
‘Leveraging Leapmotor’s cutting-edge technology and products, along with Stellantis’ support in areas such as overseas channels, services, and marketing, we hope that users around the world can experience the exceptional driving and riding experience brought by Leapmotor products.
‘We believe that this cooperation can give Leapmotor a boost to become a respected world-class intelligent electric vehicle company.’
The latest news comes as Stellantis continues to make noises against the UK’s ‘terrible’ ZEV mandate, which places targets on how many EVs carmakers must sell.
The ZEV mandate requires a certain percentage of the sales of every car manufacturer to be electric, otherwise, firms will face financial penalties.
This year, the required percentage is 22%, rising each year to 100 per cent in 2035.
Car makers unable to meet their targets will be fined, with the government proposing a £15,000 penalty for every non-electric car and £18,000 per non-electric van they miss their target by.
In response to the targets, Stellantis boss Carlos Tavares recently threatened to slash his company’s presence in the UK.
The likes of Peugeot and Fiat have also recently spoken of the difficulties surrounding the government’s EV appraoch.
It is now hoped that the creation of Leapmotor will help to ease concerns on that front.
Tavares said: ‘The creation of Leapmotor International is a great step forward in helping address the urgent global warming issue with state-of-the-art BEV models that will compete with existing Chinese brands in key markets around the world.
‘Leveraging our existing global presence, we will soon be able to offer our customers price competitive and tech-centric electric vehicles that will exceed their expectations.
‘Under Tianshu Xin’s leadership, they have built a compelling worldwide commercial and industrial strategy to quickly ramp-up the sales distribution channels to support Leapmotor’s robust growth and create value for both partners.’
