Browse over 9,000 car reviews
You may have missed it, but the era of price parity for electric vehicles is already upon us.
Leapmotor, a new-to-Australia Chinese start-up which has the backing of international automotive conglomerate Stellantis (the group behind Peugeot and Jeep), is offering its C10 mid-size SUV at roughly the same price as a mid-spec Toyota RAV4, Mazda CX-5 or Mitsubishi Outlander.
Starting from $45,888 (or $47,500 drive-away), the C10 doesn’t command the same $10-$20,000 premium equivalent electric cars once did over their mainstream combustion equivalents. Speaking to CarsGuide at the mid-size SUV’s launch Leapmotor Australia CEO Andy Hoang explained that this competitiveness with combustion cars is where the brand is hoping its customers will come from.
When asked about who the brand’s rivals may be and where its sales will come from, Hoang said with the way the car is positioned, it’s up to the buyer.
“With C10 it’s more about the flexibility of the car and the value story — we hope customers will look at what kind of car they need and their budget, and say ‘oh, it’s an EV, even better!’ Our competitors aren’t just EVs but also petrol [cars]. It’s really anyone in the SUV segment, you could put any car on that list,” he said.
He also said while he wouldn’t reveal numbers yet (either in pre-orders or what the brand is aiming for in its first year), feedback from the market was a “spectrum” of buyers. “We’re getting early adopters who know everything, but we’ve also seen the other end of the spectrum: People for whom this will be their first electric car. We’ve seen people come in from the existing dealer network and then also bring in customers to that network who might not have seen [the C10]".
Of course, Hoang is referring to the fact that Leapmotors, by and large, will be sold in Stellantis dealerships alongside other brands in the alliance, like Alfa Romeo, Fiat and Jeep.
He said while the goal with Leapmotor is to make electric motoring more accessible, it isn’t necessarily about being the cheapest option available.
“There’s being the cheapest, and then there’s being the best value” he said. “Absolutely, I think it’s about bringing the EV to the masses. Early adopters were pro-EV already, but given the value and the story behind [the C10], the masses are starting to have a look. Its for those who might have kids and a mortgage. They want a vehicle to look good, and the trend now is electric, they might say ‘Now I have an option'."
“Some of our rivals are about targeting the EV enthusiast - our brand is about making a smarter choice.”
However, Hoang is aware that rivals - whether they’re ‘legacy’ brands like Toyota or Mitsubishi or already-established Chinese players like BYD and GWM - won’t just stand by and that Australia’s rapidly evolving market was going to make it a challenge for the Stellantis-backed newcomer.
“I don’t think they’re sitting there at Toyota or any brand and saying ‘that’s it, we’ve done our job.’ It’s really good news for the consumer, but bad news for us, because we’re going to have to fight really hard.”
Again, the advantage of Stellantis backing is where Leapmotor sees an immediate leg up.
“It’s a finite market. There’s a finite number of dealers and they get to choose now which brands they’re willing to put on. If you have to go out and hire your own shop? That’s not a promising sign for your brand.”
While it will have the advantage of immediate dealer presence, “fight hard” might not even begin to describe the challenge ahead for Leapmotor, as it looks to establish itself against more than 10 new players which will have arrived in Australia by the end of 2025.
The C10 is set to be joined by a range-extender hybrid model later in the year, and from there will be joined by its B10 smaller sibling, which will follow a similar structure of EV-first, range-extender hybrid second.
From there, the brand looks to expand, with a presentation slide seeming to indicate the possibility of the C16 large SUV joining in 2026 and 2027 seeing the arrival of a hatchback, light hatch, and a crossover to help the brand reach its goal of 500,000 global sales by 2030.
Comments