Last year, emerging Chinese car company Leapmotor officially announced its entry into Australia with its first electric vehicle, the C10 electric SUV, with pricing starting at $45,888 before on-roads.
Now, the company’s second fully electric offering has been unveiled at an event in Hangzhou, China, with prices ranging between the equivalant of $A24,000 and $A30,700.
The price and technology alone has helped the company get over 15,000 orders within the first hour of the model’s unveiling.
The launch was first shared by Inside China Auto on X from the Hangzhou event, where Leapmotor shared what makes this affordable SUV a highly competitive product for the Chinese and international markets.
For this, the mid-sized SUV will feature the company’s latest Leap 3.5 architecture, delivering a range of up to 600 km on the CLTC cycle.
In Hangzhou tonight for the pre-launch of the Leapmotor B10. Following on from the C10 and T03, the B10 will be the third Leap model to go on sale internationally. Tonight we're going to learn more about the LEAP 3.5 architecture. Will update as we go along if I can keep up. pic.twitter.com/HZuhH2IHST
— Inside China Auto (@InsideChinaAuto) March 10, 2025
This is likely to be above 500 km under the WLTP cycle, which is fairly good from its 67.1 kWh lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) battery pack, which is smaller than the 69.9 kWh pack found in the bigger C10 SUV.
There is also a 56.2 kWh battery pack which is rated at 510 km CLTC range, likely to be closer to 400 km on the WLTP cycle commonly used in Australia.
The Leapmotor B10 is 4.52 metres long, coming under the longer C10 which comes in at 4.74 metres.
Powering the B10 are two motor configurations, coming in at 132 kW and 160 kW, while the C10 is only equipped with the larger motor in our local market.
The smaller motor will help the car accelerate from 0-100 km/h in over 9 seconds while the more powerful configuration will improve that time to 6.8 seconds.
As mentioned earlier, the B10 is based on the Leap 3.5 architecture and will feature intelligent driving systems for autonomous functionality. That’s partially thanks to the LiDAR system, which comes in multiple B10 variants to allow highway and city navigation and driving capabilities.
A unique feature of the interior is the availability of accessories which can be mounted on the passenger side, including a tray table which could be handy for those wanting to work from their parked car or for mounting a tablet for entertainment while camping.
On the inside, like the C10, a large 14.6-inch infotainment screen along with a 10.25-inch driver instrument cluster behind the steering wheel.
After an hour of pre-sales beginning, the company had already raked up over 15,000 pre-orders, highlighting the level of interest in affordable smart EVs.
One hour later, they're at 15,010 pre-orders already. Not bad at all. pic.twitter.com/XgDTBLSdCM
— Inside China Auto (@InsideChinaAuto) March 10, 2025
Here in Australia, Leapmotor started deliveries in December 2024, recording 64 sales. In the first two months of 2025, we saw a further 51 sales of the C10, as the company is preparing for an extended-range version of the C10 locally.
At this stage, it’s unclear when the B10 will be available in Australia, but it is likely to be in the second half of 2025 as the brand aims to grow its presence under Stellantis, which has a 50% stake in Leamotor’s international expansion JV.
Given the B10 is likely to compete with the BYD Atto 3 and other smaller mid-sized SUVs, it’d be worth keeping an eye on given the popularity of that segment.
More choices in our local market can only be good for drivers looking at making the switch.
Riz 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.