New petrol-electric and impending compact battery-pure model will keep this make in the spotlight, but ambition is tempered by market challenges.

AS much as the range-extender C10 edition now coming into play and another, lower-priced new model en route will considerably raise interest in the Leapmotor brand, ‘softly softly’ is the make’s continuing strategy here.

The last year being a turbulent time for new electric vehicles, with sales falling off a cliff after three prior years of steadily increasing growth, has heavily flavoured involvers’ forecasts for 2025.

For its part, having seen major rival BYD start strongly, then all but burn out in 2024 when interest in electric cars fell to almost zero, Leapmotor’s distributor here has decided to progress positively with its market penetration, but also warily.

“The whole electric vehicle sector is in regrowth phase,” says Brian Carr (above), general manager of sales for Leapmotor, which is backed by Stellantis, the parent brand for 14 makes out of the United states, Germany, Italy and France.

Here it is part of the Rick Armstrong-funded Autodistributors Group that also represents several other Stellantis makes here, but not all. Others are with a different distributor.

Confidence for Leapmotor ultimately becoming a golden ticket is high; Chinese makes have shown themselves to be leaders in the affordable electric sphere.

Nonetheless, the NZ operation is remaining grounded.

“We are not expecting to come in and blow the market away as such, we are here to just grow the brand.”

Carr is hugely pleased to add the C10 Ultra (above), a styling and specification doppelgänger for the full electric C10 but running a petrol and electric plug-in hybrid drivetrain for a $5000 saving.

Yet there is reality about what those products, and next cited model, the B10 smaller sports utility expected in late 2025, can achieve.

“We've seen month on month growth inquiry is growing. The Ultra hybrid range extender will take it now to another level.

“But we see this as just a progressive growing phase until the New Zealand market catches up.

“From a buyer's perspective there’s been a lot of change with the electric vehicle offering; Government legislation changes, regulatory upheavals wrapped around rebates, Clean Card discount … everything that the consumer's having to deal with, let alone the industry.”

So insofar as 2025 goes? It’s a period for some degree of regrowth. Hopefully.

“We've got growth that we want to achieve, but we don't expect it to be a massive spike.”

The C10 Ultra will conceivably sell as an alternate to plug-hybrid cars, such as the BYD Sealion 6, Haval H6 GT PHEV and Mitsubishi Outlander, as well as to the Nissan X-Trail ePower.

It differs from the PHEVs and is akin to the Nissan in that the internal combustion engine does not ever directly power the wheels.

Instead the 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine acts as a generator with the same 158kW/320Nm electric motor as the full-electric version.

Like a PHEV (and unlike the Nissan) the C10 Ultra has ability to recharge from the mains. That means that, unlike the ePower, it doesn’t escape Road User Charges.

PHEV interest diminished massively when RUC hit the technology last April, so Carr is reluctant to predict which of the C10s will be more popular.

“At the moment the PHEV market is really small, so it’s really tough to get a gauge on which will the higher interest, just now.

“We think in time there is a possibility the range extender will have more acceptance. It's a lower cost car offering substantial savings in running costs.”

In respect to all that, Leapmotor has chosen to relay outcomes from two testing regimes that measure a vehicle's fuel consumption, CO2 emissions and range.

Both data sets show it be a lean fuel consumer, but one is more optimistic than the other - suggesting 1150 kilometres’ total combined range against 975m, 170kms on electric alone against 145 and lower CO2 counts.

The most glowing outcomes are from the NEDC (New European Driving Cycle) test that has been deemed so unreliable here and overseas that it has been replaced by the Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicles Test Procedure (WLTP) calibration whose outcomes Leapmotor also uses.

As much as WLTP calibration is preferred by Government agencies, there’s no restriction on promoting NEDC and because the counts are better, it’s still a preference for some brands, particularly from China.

Carr accepts there is likelihood for confusion, agrees WLTP is likely to be the more accurate for real-world driving and hopes sales people can coherently navigate buyers through the datasets.

But he says for better or worse, while other rivals continue to use NEDC, then his make is also compelled to.

“By going out with both, we are being as open as possible, as transparent as possible. I'm not going to name specific brands, but you go onto their websites, you can see what they do (with NEDC).”

The combined range calculations are of particular sensitivity as one rival also promotes a 1000 kilometre-plus range that, as with the Ultra, only comes when NEDC protocols are applied.

Is it likely neither car can really do this?

Carr says testing here with the C10 electric here shows it can, when driven carefully, achieve better range than its WLTP figure of 420 kilometres. So maybe the Ultra can, as well.

But being able to suggest a car can clock more than 1000 kilometres before needing replenishment is a powerful sales tool. When another is doing so, then so must Leapmotor.

In all, Leapmotor has five additional models that could conceivably come here, but the B10 (above) - a fully electric compact crossover running a single motor outputting 156kW - will likely be a core ingredient of the product push, given it will site below the C10.

If the C10 is aimed at the Tesla Model Y and Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kia EV6, the B10 is closer to a BYD Atto 3 and a MG ZS EV.

Leapmotor has said the B10 is the first of a B series of EVs it is rolling out for overseas markets, and Stellantis has said the model would be a way to bring “high-tech, affordable EVs” to consumers outside China.

The car is underpinned by a new Leap 3.5 platform promising “ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems), a customisable digital cockpit, and intelligent driving capabilities.”

While NZ will source from China, B10 is also going to built in Europe; having first looked to old GM/Opel plants in Poland then Germany, Stellantis now seems more likely to make it at a factory in Spain that used to provide Holden Barinas and Astras to NZ.

Carr hopes to have pre-production examples here soon after mid-year and expects on-sale to begin in the fourth quarter. However, he wouldn’t be surprised if full-scale availability occurred before then.

“The pace at which they can get things done is just remarkable,” said this industry veteran, who before undertaking his present role was in Australia, mainly with Mercedes Benz and Nissan.

“Development of models, developments of technology is just at a different level (with Leapmotor).”

He says C10 electric has already benefited from some retuning of its ADAS systems since it landed. This was undertaken as an over the air patch.

One anticipated refresh C10 won’t now achieve is delivery of one of the market’s most popular new in-car features, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone mirroring.

Having initially signalled that these ingredients would be delivered as an upgrade later this year (though not retrospectively), Leapmotor now says the C10’s technical hardware, though smart enough to support over-the-air updates, can't support CarPlay or Android Auto.

That seems a poor lapse for a car developed for worldwide markets beyond China, but the make says B10 and subsequent models will be better sorted as they come with a newer Leapmotor 3.5 architecture that does supports the infotainment features.