Chinese manufacturer Leapmotor says that two of its all-electric cars – the pint-sized T03 city car and mid-sized C10 SUV – will go on sale in the UK in the next few weeks, with the first customer orders arriving by the end of the year.
This comes after Stellantis – the owner of established brands like Citroën, Peugeot, Fiat, Jeep, Alfa Romeo and Vauxhall – bought a stake in Leapmotor last year, with plans to sell the brand’s models in Europe.
So, what makes Leapmotor stand out when compared to the EVs already on sale here? Well, that would be the price tag. Starting with the small T03, this budget-end battery-powered city car will cost just under £16k when it becomes available to order this month – that is £1k more than the entry-level Dacia Spring.
The car’s 37kWh battery and 95hp electric motor provides a reported range of 165 miles, 25 miles more than you get in the Dacia. That said, the T03 is even smaller than the Spring, and is therefore less spacious inside. While the Dacia comes with a modest 308-litre boot, the T03 has a 210-litre luggage capacity in the rear, which is on par with the latest Mini Cooper.
There will only be one version of the T03 available from launch, and it comes with an eight-inch LCD instrument cluster, a ten-inch central infotainment touchscreen, voice assistant technology, air conditioning, and a panoramic sunroof with an electric sunshade.
T03 models are reportedly being built in the Stellantis factory in Poland. Larger C10 SUVs, on the other hand, are being imported to Europe from China.
The SUV, which is set to rival the Skoda Enyaq and Nissan Ariya on the UK market, will cost under £37k when it becomes available to order in November, which makes it cheaper than almost all of its all-electric rivals in the mid-sized SUV category, apart from the similarly-priced BYD Atto 3 – an SUV from another Chinese brand that is trying to undercut European rivals on price.
Also only offered in one trim, the rear-wheel drive 218hp C10 is powered by a 70kWh battery with a claimed maximum range of 262 miles, which is 12 miles more than the cheapest 63kWh Nissan Ariya. The boot can accommodate up to 435 litres of luggage space, which expands to 1,410 litres with the rear seats folded.
The C10’s unique interior feature is that both the front and rear seats can be folded, making a two-metre-long picnic area. On the dashboard, a ten-inch digital instrument cluster is paired with a 15-inch central infotainment screen that both float above the dashboard surface.
Other standard features include a wireless smartphone charging pad, dual-zone automatic air-conditioning, a panoramic sunroof with an electric sunshade, a heated steering wheel, 20-inch alloy wheels, a motorised boot lid, rear parking sensors and a surround-view parking camera.
These two models will the first of several new Leapmotor additions to the UK market, with the recently-unveiled B10 SUV also confirmed for a UK arrival next year.