If you can’t beat them, sell them. That sums up the attitude at Stellantis, which has just confirmed its plans to sell two Chinese-engineered Lepmotor EVs in Europe this September, with four more cars poised to join the charge before 2028. Stellantis, like all Western mass-market carmakers, has been fretting about how it can compete with Chinese brands that can build EVs for the same price as combustion cars. One of the ways it thinks it can compete is by selling Chinese cars, so it paid US$ 1.6 billion (€ 1.5 bn) for a 21 percent stake in Leapmotor last year.
Arriving first are the T03 electric city
car and an also-electric SUV called the C10, which is roughly the same size as
a Tesla Model Y. The T03 is a tiny four-door hatchback, slightly smaller than a
Mitsubishi Mirage, powered by a single electric motor producing 100 hp and capable of 265 km between charges.
It’s thought that Stellantis will build
the T03 in Poland, but the C10 will be shipped over from China. And given that
the Tesla Model Y was the best-selling passenger vehicle in Europe last year,
it’s the C10 that’s arguably the most important of the two new EVs, despite a
general slowdown in demand for electric cars.
The C10 won’t compete directly with the Model
Y but could prove tempting to buyers who like the idea of the Tesla, but can’t
afford the price of entry. It seats five, has 228 hp, and can
reportedly do 420 km on a fill. That’s not class-leading, but it
might be enough if the price is right.
France, Italy, Germany, Netherlands,
Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Greece, and Romania are the first to get their hands
on the Leapmotor EVs, starting this September. Then in Q4, Stellantis will
launch the brand in the Middle East, Africa, India, Asia Pacific, and South
America.
