LEAP INTO THE KNOWN (some text hidden) --NONE--

By Jonathan Crouch

The Leapmotor C10. This mid-sized EV crossover is an unfamiliar contender. But competes in a familiar genre backed by a familiar brand. Jonathan Crouch takes a look.

Ten Second Reviewword count: 54

New Chinese maker Leapmotor bounds into the UK market with this extraordinarily well priced upper mid-sized EV crossover, the C10. The money being asked here would normally get you something smaller and feebler of range. And there's plenty of technology too. You can see why European conglomerate Stellantis decided to part-own the Leapmotor brand.

Backgroundword count: 165

Another month, another new Chinese EV maker. Except that this one, Leapmotor, is a bit different, part-owned by the Stellantis Group conglomerate that has so many brands in Europe. Stellantis knows that it'll take more than trade tariffs to hold back the invasion of Chinese auto makers into Western markets, so thought a clever approach would be to buy into one - a cool 11.5 billion euro stake that's given them 20% of the business. Which also gives the group access into some pretty useful EV technology - as we'll see. The result of all this is Leapmotor International, which launched in Europe with two electric models, the T03 small runabout; and our subject here, the C10, a mid-sized EV crossover aimed at the Tesla Model Y segment. Both will be sold at existing Stellantis dealerships around the UK. And both undercut European (and Chinese) rivals substantially on price. So here to some extent, we have the Chinese taking on the Chinese. Let battle commence.

Engines and Tech Specword count: 199

For the time being, there's not a lot of powertrain choice if you want a C10. Just a single version is on offer with a rear-mounted permanent magnet synchronous motor developing 215bhp. It's energised by a 69.9kWh battery offering a modest range of 263 miles. Acceleration is intentionally linear, but 62mph is still reached in 7.5s (en route to 106mph) and there's plenty of mid-range punch thanks to 320Nm of torque. From rest, there's a 'creep' function you can activate that gets you moving a little quicker. The C10's engineering party piece is its 'cell-to-chassis' design approach, which makes the battery pack an integral part of the body structure and improves torsional rigidity. There are three drive modes - 'Eco', 'Standard' and 'Sport'. There's also three steering modes and four levels of regenerative braking - low, standard, high or one-pedal, the latter (annoyingly) requiring you to park up first before it will activate; hopefully, that'll be fixed at the mid-term update. Through the twisty stuff, you're likely to feel this car's considerable weight - 1,980kg. That's an issue common to all contenders in this class, but some of them manage to conceal the feeling of bulk better than this.

To see the full road test text contact us on 0330 0020 227