Stellantis Malaysia has officially launched the 2024 Leapmotor C10, with the all-electric Chinese SUV making its Malaysian market debut a month after its right-hand drive preview. The D-segment five-seater from Ling Pao – as the brand is known in Chinese (hence the initials that form the logo) – goes on sale here in a sole variant form, and this is the high-specification Design, priced at RM149,000 until November 30, 2024. Following this, the C10 will retail for RM159,000.
That outlay bags you a sizeable offering with plenty in the way of kit and tech. Measuring in at 4,739 mm long, 1,900 mm wide, 1,680 mm tall, with a wheelbase of 2,825 mm, the C10 is not diminutive. Indeed, from a size perspective, it’s a D-segment offering that is larger than most of its price-point rivals in many markets.
In Malaysia, it goes up against the likes of the Proton X90 and Chery Tiggo 8 Pro from a size viewpoint, while in the EV space, it will compete against models such as the BYD Atto 3 and Proton eMas 7, despite being larger than both.
Like in other global markets such as Europe, the UK and Australia, the C10 for Malaysia is available only in single-motor rear-wheel drive guise, with the electric motor offering 218 PS (160 kW) and 320 Nm in the way of output. This is good enough to move the 1,980 kg offering from standstill to 100 km/h in 7.5 seconds all the way to a rated top speed of 170 km/h.
A lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery with a 69.9 kWh capacity offers the C10 up to 424 km of WLTP-rated travel (477 km, NEDC) on a single charge. As for charging, the unit can accept a maximum of 84 kW of DC fast charging, which can juice it up from a 30 to 80% state-of-charge (SoC) in about 30 minutes. With AC, the maximum rate is 6.6 kW, where 6.1 hours is needed to achieve the same SoC.
Mechanical highlights include a specifically-tuned suspension unique to the C10 sold in export markets. In this case, dedicated chassis tuning for the SUV in its global form was carried out by Stellantis’ chassis tuning team at Balocco, Italy, where Maserati has its proving ground.
As for exterior styling, the C10 has a clean, traditional-looking shape, and 20-inch ‘Trident’ alloys, which are wrapped with 245/45 profile Dunlop e.Sport Maxx tyres, complement the look further. External kit includes LED auto headlights and daytime running lights, with the slim profiling for the light assemblies replicated for the rear units. Elsewhere, you’ll find manually-operated flush door handles, a roof spoiler and rear privacy glass.
Inside, the clean pitch continues, with the only prominent items to sight being a two-spoke steering wheel and two digital displays, the first being a 10.25-inch instrument panel with 1920 x 720 of resolution and a 14.6-inch, high-definition central display with 2560 x 1440 of resolution.
The OS utilises a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 chip, which the automaker says provides smooth, lag-free performance that will continue to be refined via regular over-the-air updates. The infotainment system features a 840 watt, 12-speaker surround sound audio system that has been fully-developed in-house by Leapmotor as well as satellite navigation, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. There is however no Apple CarPlay or Android Auto connectivity.
Other than that omission, the equipment list is strong, with items on the spec sheet including Oeko-Tex Standard 100 ‘silicone leather’ seat upholstery, said to be liquid resistant and “baby-friendly,” presented in a choice of two interior colour schemes.
Additionally, you’ll find a dual-zone automatic climate control system with built-in PM2.5 filtration, a 42-inch fixed panoramic glass roof with electric sunshade as well as heated/ventilated powered front seats (six-way driver, four-way front passenger), wireless phone charging, four USB ports (one 12-watt Type A, one 60-watt Type C each, front and rear), ambient interior lighting and a powered tailgate.
There’s only one key type for the C10, and that’s a NFC card key, with the side mirror cover providing the tap access point for locking/unlocking. Incidentally, the NFC key card has to be placed on the centre console for the vehicle to be started. A Leapmotor mobile app can also be used to provide access to the vehicle.
As noted in our first drive report of it, one of the C10’s USPs is its space, in this case at the rear, no surprise given the size segment it’s in and because of its five-seat configuration. There’s an incredible amount of legroom (951 mm) and a high degree of airiness in the cabin, especially across the rear space, what with 1,050 mm of headroom.
That’s with all the seats up. If you need more horizontal acreage, it is possible to fold down both front seats flat, with the headrests removed, to make for an ample couch, and folding the rear seats completely down yields a 1.8 metre-long by 1.2 metre-wide bed space.
As for pure cargo space, the C10 offers 435 litres of boot volume with the rear seats up, and folding down the 60:40 rear bench increases this capacity to 1,410 litres. A frunk offers an additional 32 litres of carrying space.
In terms of safety and driving assistance equipment, the C10 is equipped with seven airbags, rear parking sensors and a 360-degree camera. It also features a Level 2 ADAS suite with 12 high-precision sensors offering 17 related functions including adaptive cruise control, intelligent speed assist, traffic jam assist, forward collision warning, AEB, lane departure warning, lane keeping assist and emergency lane keeping. However, unlike China, there’s no Lidar on the global C10.
Finally, exterior colour choices available for it, and there are four, in this case Canopy Grey, Pearly White, Tundra Grey and Glazed Green, the hero shade. The two interior colours are Criollo Brown, which is unique to the Glazed Green exterior, and Midnight Aurora, the latter a black and faint purple combination.
The Leapmotor C10 comes with a six-year/150,000k m warranty, and an eight-year/160,000 km Battery warranty, whichever comes first. Service intervals are fixed at one-year or 20,000 km, whichever comes first.
Stellantis Malaysia said the sales and after-sales services for the Leapmotor C10 will kick off locally with 18 point-of-sales locations this year, with plans to add on nine more outlets in 2025. There will also be 16 authorised service centres by 2025, with six of these locations already scheduled to be operational by Q4 this year.
We’ve driven the Leapmotor C10. Read our review of the electric SUV here.
GALLERY: 2024 Leapmotor C10
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