Stellantis deal set to bring China's Leapmotor EVs to Europe

Stellantis is planning to build an EV powerhouse in China with a €1.5 billion bid to secure a 20% stake in Chinese electric car manufacturer Leapmotor.

In a decade when Stellantis is steadily encouraging its dealers to retail a number of its group brands from shared locations, this might lead to existing Stellantis franchisees across Europe being able to add Leapmotor car showrooms in the medium term, plus other Stellantis products underpinned by its Chinese partner's technologies.

The deal will see the partners create Leapmotor International, a 51/49 Stellantis-led joint venture that will have exclusive rights to export. sell, and manufacturer Leapmotor products outside Greater China from next summer. as well as boosting Leapmotor’s sales in China.

The two companies said Leapmotor’s EV products fit in to Stellantis’ current technology and portfolio of brands well, allowing the European car manufacturer to offer more affordable mobility solutions and to exploit Leapmotor’s expertise to help meet its own 2030 electrification targets.

Leapmotor was the world’s first pure-play EV company to implement Cell-to-Chassis technology on a large scale, and its ‘Four-Leaf Clover’ Leap 3.0 centrally-controlled new electric and electronic architecture.Focused on the fast growing mid-to-high end market, Leapmotor delivered 111,000 EVs in 2022, placing it into the first tier among China’s NEV pure-play car makers. In the next three years, Leapmotor’s product plan is expected to cover the full range of A- to-E segments, based on one technical architecture with three scalable platforms with BEV and range extender EV powertrains.