Can Leapmotor save Stellantis in the shift to electric vehicles?

In the hard car industry, stellantis face challenges. As we recently informed, the company’s profits decreased by 70 % in 2024, and the explicit executive director Carlos Tavares resigned at the end of the year.

Although many traditional car manufacturers have found a transformation into a sabotage electrification, Stelantis seems to have been particularly fighting to negotiate the new . Now there is another brand that is added to its huge wallet that is with more electrical options options, but it is a little different from the rest. Can Leapmotor be stealing stellantis that transforms the wealth of the multinational giant?

Leapmotor joins 14 other members in the Stelantis group (although only eight active in Europe). Stelantis was born when the PSA group (which collected Peugeot, Citroen, Vauxhal/Opel, DS) was born with Fiat Chrysler (ABRATH, Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Lancia, Chryler, Dodge, Jeep and RAM. But all these brands are fully owned by stellantis. Leapmotor is a Chinese company that has been working in its home country since 2015. Stelantis bought 20 % of business in China in 2023, but now it has 51 % of the international wing Leapmotor that was launched in Europe in 2024 to bring the brand to a global market.

Why Leapmotor?

From one perspective, it is useful to ask why stelantis needs another brand. But Leapmotor is likely to connect a gap nothing else in its wallet. When the current electric battery transition (Bev) began around 2020, Stelantis seemed to have mostly one a single flight collection. This collection is a 136 -horsepower engine that drives front wheels of the car with a 50 kW battery. It appeared in everything from a pressed hatchback like Peugeot E-208 to large trucks like Citroen E-Dispatch (although some trucks offer larger batteries).

From one perspective, it is useful to ask why stelantis needs another brand. But Leapmotor is likely to connect a gap nothing else in its wallet.

The results were not terrible, and the prices were not (according to BeV standards), but they were joint platforms with the versions of the internal combustion engine (ICE). This means that they have missed some benefits of design innovations that make them pure pure platforms as possible, such as the largest batteries in the basement of many scope, dual motor performance, and increasing the interior space.

Recently, the company has developed more advanced EV driving devices, such as Stla Small and Medium. It has been introduced as dedicated specifically for Bevs, but still supports ice. It is more “Bev First” than Pure Bev, but this is still a great improvement on the previous platforms at risk. This allowed new models such as Peugeot E-3008 to provide more competitive features than previous Stelantis EVS, such as much larger batteries capable of more than 400 miles of scope. Technology stabilizer also feels more smoothly into the car.

However, the vehicles built on the new Stelantis platforms still show a continuous problem for most European auto makers – they remain relatively expensive. This is not a catastrophe when most auto companies have the same problem with Bev pricing. But now that, after the Korean and Chinese brands have started to provide strong competition in Europe, the EV market has become increasingly narrow and sensitive to the price, making it difficult to stand out. For example, the Chinese car manufacturer BYD is a major challenge, and in the UK MG works to expand electrical capabilities.

The current stellantis feature

However, while Charalenger brands can be seduced at very convincing prices, they often lack the support network to continue the good experience after sales. What Stelantis contemplates is that there is a strong synergy between what you offer as a traditional carbox-a firm network of agents and service centers-and what can be provided by Chinese brands. These days, these are not just low costs, but also advanced technology. Leapmotor cars that reach Europe feature innovative Bev features, and have a lot of advanced safety technology created in the standards as well.

However, the price remains a major feature of Leapmotor. The most challenging challenge model between the two firsts launched in Europe is T03, which is a small hatchback at four doors. T03 reaches Britain at 15,995 pounds ($ 20,500). According to EV criteria, this is a deal. The Dacia Spring starts from 14,995 pounds ($ 19500), but this is without a recreational screen, which has standard T03. Spring also contains a smaller battery (meaning a lower range) and a less powerful engine. Leapmotor aims to match the spring to the price but exceeds EV and quality features.

The story is similar to the other Leapmotor that you launched in Europe so far – C10. At first glance, this “I also” looks more than T03. It is a medium -sized electric all -wheel drive vehicle that costs 36,500 pounds sterling ($ 47,000), and there are many competitors from other brands around this price. However, Leapmotor only provides one distinct level for C10, such as T03, with features such as panoramic ceiling opening, heat pump (winter scope improvement), fireplace and ventilation front seats, knees to open as a standard. Other brands receive a lot by adding these types of luxuries. The C10 was initially launched as Bev with 263 miles from the WLTP group, but the “hybrid sequence” is also imminent.

Prepare to invade Chinese cars

However, the Leapmotor project is not just an excuse for Stelantis to import cheap cars made in China. The cheapest model, T03, made in Tychy in Poland, so it should be resistant to global trade war that develops daily. C10 is imported from China, but the following form, B10, in Slovakia and Germany will be built. Three other models will be offered by the end of 2027. Leapmotor aims to continue its spirit of providing distinctive features of intense prices with these releases.

There is an increasing group of Chinese or Chinese brands that enter the European market, including Xpeng, Marqies Zekr, and Lynk & Co. Geely is also the power behind the Swedish Volvo and Polestar. Zhangan (which has Ford and Mazda joint projects) is another Chinese brand about to enter Europe. The challenges of European car manufacturers are set only to increase.

Although definitions may temporarily protect European brands at home, they cannot make them competitive in the global market against the Chinese. Stelantis seems to have adopted a more than “if you cannot overcome them, join them” with its international strategy. Prices are competitive, but to get more installment specifications than alternatives, giving cars a possible advantage. This may not be sufficient to reflect a decrease in 70 % in the profits of 2024 completely, but it may definitely help maintain stellantis in the game as Europe rises increasingly.

This story was originally shown on Fortune.com

2025-03-16 06:45:00