Newly emerging Chinese car company Leapmotor has officially announced the entry into Australia of its first EV, the C10 electric SUV, which promises to be one of the lowest cost electric offerings in the country.
The Driven reported last week that the company had launched its Australian website and the company, which has entered into an international joint venture with global car giant Stellantis, has now released key specifications and a launch date.
The price of the C10 has not yet been revealed, but in China it sells for the equivalent of around $A27,000 – so it promises to be at the lower end of the market and add to the much needed range of EVs offered at prices below $40,000.
Leapmotor, which was founded in 2015 by engineer Zhu Jiangming, says the first C10s will be at āselect dealershipsā by November this year.
The mid-sized SUV – it is 4.74 metres in length –Ā will be available to Australian drivers in two variants called Style and Design.
Both variants will be powered by a 160 kW motor that delivers up to 320 Nm of torque. They will also come equipped with a 69.9 kWh battery which can deliver up to 420 km of WLTP range, and will feature one pedal driving.
The battery pack will be able to be charged from 30-80% in 30 minutes and can be fast-charged at a rate of up to 84 kW. This is slightly below the BYD Atto 3, but is reasonable for an affordable offering in the market. The car also has vehicle-to-load (V2L) capabilities.
Both variants will also include a large 14.6-inch infotainment screen along with a 10.25-inch driver instrument cluster behind the steering wheel.
There is also 4G connectivity and Wifi on offer along with over-the-air (OTA) updates. On top of that, the car has built-in Bluetooth and NFC key capabilities for keyless entry across both variants.
The C10 is packed with standard safety features thanks to 12 high-precision advanced drive assistance system (ADAS) sensors and 17 ADAS functions which include:
- ACC (Adaptive Cruise Control)
- LCC (Lane Centring Control)
- ELK (Emergency Lane Keep)
- FCW (Front Collision Warning)
- RCW (Rear Collision Warning)
- RCTB (Rear Cross Traffic Brake)
- ISA (Intelligent Speed Assist)
- DDAW (Driver Drowsiness and Attention Warning)
- DOW (Door Open Warning)
- LDW (Lane Departure Warning)
- LKA (Lane Keep Assist)
- TJA (Traffic Jam Assist)
- AEB (Autonomous Emergency Brake)
- RCTA (Rear Cross Traffic Alert)
- BSD (Blind Sport Detection)
- HOD (Hands Off Detection)
- AADW (Advanced Driver Distraction Warning)
A 360-degree camera with guidelines is also on offer on both variants. All these features will help this SUV be one of the safest in its class but an official ANCAP rating is yet to be announced.Ā
When it comes to colours, the C10 will be available in Australia with:
- Pearl White
- Terra Grey
- Jade Green
- Midnight Grey
- Metallic Black
The Jade Green appears to be one of the more unique colours in the market and similar paints has previously been offered on more high-end vehicles from other brands. This will be a good offering quite unique to the C10 when it lands later this year.
Leapmotor will also offer a 7-year 160,000km warranty on C10 as well as a 8-year 160,000km warranty on the battery pack.
Leapmotor will adopt a dealership distribution model with locations of dealerships to be announced next month ahead of its official arrival at dealerships by November this year.
The new C10 will surely get a lot of interest in the coming months when the pricing and dealerships are announced for Australia later this year.Ā
Leapmotor C10 Variant Specifications
Style:
- LEAP3.0 vehicle platform with Cell-to-Chassis technology
- “Four-leaf Cloverā¢ā centrally integrated E/E architecture
- LeapOS infotainment
- 69.9kWh RWD 160kW/320Nm
- 18ā alloy wheels
- LED auto headlights
- Heated exterior mirrors
- 2.1m2 fixed panoramic glass roof with electric sunshade
- Concealed door handles
- Dual-zone automatic climate control with energy-efficient heat pump
- Over-the-air updates
- 6-way adjustable electric driver seat
- 4-way adjustable electric passenger seat
- LEAP Pilot (L2 ADAS)
- 10.25ā driver instrument display
- 14.6ā HD central display with live navigation
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 8195 chip
- Wireless charging pad
- 12-speaker surround audio system
- NFC & BluetoothĀ® key
- Leapmotor connected services
- 360Ā° camera with dynamic guidelines
- Rear parking sensors
- Tyre repair kit
- 8-year / 160,000km HV battery warranty
Design (in addition to or replacing Style):
- 20ā alloy wheels
- Power tailgate
- Rear privacy glass
- Heated steering wheel
- Heated front seats
- Ventilated front seats
- LED rear light bar (with lighting animation)
- Air quality monitor
- Silicone leather seats with OEKO-TEXĀ®
- Multi-colour interior ambient lighting
RizĀ is the founder of carloop based in Melbourne, specialising in Australian EV data, insight reports and trends. He is a mechanical engineer who spent the first 7 years of his career building transport infrastructure before starting carloop. He has a passion for cars, particularly EVs and wants to help reduce transport emissions in Australia. He currently drives a red Tesla Model 3.
Leapmotor are even more of a technology led company that Tesla so the ADAS stuff in even their S03 should be impressive.
LFP battery, the article neglects to mention. About as long as the Tesla Model Y, but a bit fugly.
All those blind Sports competitors can rest assured that you shouldn’t be afraid of this car, or should you.
I’ve had it with all these SUVs being dumped into the market. The BYD Seagull is top on sales in China. First Chinese company to introduce a similar sized and priced model into Australia will find a motherload of buyers.
Unfortunately, as much as I love the Seagull/Dolphin Mini, they will not be a big seller in our market. We are just too much addicted to SUVs.
I’m not sure about that. Obviously ridiculously sized cars make up a big part of the market, but you still see a lot of Nissan Micras, Mitsubishi Colts, Honda Jazz and so on on the road. Most of which are no longer available, and basically only Suzuki and the Kia Picanto have anything in that segment.
(I had three Daihatsus before my current BYD Dolphin, FWIW)
Well equipped but like most SUV now- not stylish. The association with Stellantis though should be a good one as I’m guessing the base platform will appear in other brands in the group some time.
I am quite keen to see the Jade Green. Not enough colour in modern cars.
A lot of these Chinese EVs seem to have a target WLTP range in mind (around 420) and add whatever battery they can source to achieve that range and have a random letter and number for the model name, except BYD.
It comes with 12 months free access to ChargeFox, a Max DC charge rate of 84kW and Max AC charge rate 6.6kW so, with the LFP battery potentially a 90-minute charge session from a low SOC to 100%. I don’t want to be in the queue.
Great news! Stellantis dealers now have a well made product to sell.