Leapmotor C10 2025 Review - International

The 2024 Leapmotor C10 will come out swinging when it arrives Down Under with the entry-level Style tipped to start around $45,000 plus on-roads – $10,000 less than the cheapest Tesla Model Y.

Even the plusher Design version we drove will come with a price rumoured to begin with a ‘4’, suggesting the C10 will be among the best-value mid-sized SUVs around, let alone in the EV market.

There are of course more players in this emerging market than just the Model Y – the inbound XPeng G6 immediately springs to mind seeing as it also undercuts the best-selling Tesla and features some nifty class-leading tech.

The 2024 Leapmotor C10 comes out swinging in terms of standard inclusions, even on the base model, something that’ll no-doubt endear itself to potential buyers.

The Style for instance rides on 18-inch alloy wheels and features soft-touch faux leather seats, dual-zone climate control, LED head- and tail-lights, a large fixed panoramic roof, a premium 12-speaker sound system, a 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster and a huge 14.6-inch infotainment system all as standard.

Opt for the Design meantime and you’ll score bigger 20-inch hoops, heated and ventilated seats, a heated steering wheel, electric tailgate and a 256-colour ambient lighting system.

The C10 will be offered in just five exterior colours but with two interior options comprising Criollo Brown and Midnight Aurora.

Leapmotor hasn’t revealed what options the C10 will be available with yet, but it’s thought a tow-pack will be offered at some point.

The whole package is covered by a seven-year/160,000km warranty with an extra year’s coverage for its primary drive battery.

The 2024 Leapmotor C10 comes with seven airbags and 12 driver assist sensors that provide for a dizzying 17 driver assist functions.

Beginning with its all-new architecture, the C10 is built using ‘cell-to-chassis’ tech that sees the battery tray integrated as an integral part of the platform, making it a stress-member.

Leapmotor says the approach maximises space within the cabin while boosting the mid-sized SUV’s strength. In fact, when it comes to rigidity, the C10 is said to offer segment-leading levels of stiffness, so much so it’s claimed to be on par with luxury limos like the BMW 7 Series.

This should improve protection in the event of an impact, although the C10 has yet to be crash-tested by EuroNCAP or ANCAP, but senior execs say early indications are looking good for a five-star rating.

Helping the C10 avoid an accident in the first place is an advanced autonomous emergency braking (AEB) system, lane-keep assist, blind-spot detection and adaptive cruise control.

Other highlights include front- and rear-parking sensors and a 360-degree camera – even on the base model.

The 2024 Leapmotor C10’s interior certainly looks the part, blending both a large 10.25-inch configurable digital instrument cluster with a large landscape infotainment system and a complete absence of physical buttons, the latter powered by a Quantum Snapdragon processor and running the Leapmotor’s latest Leap 4.0 operating system.

Both interfaces deliver clear, fast, high-resolution graphics.

Ahead of the driver is a multi-function D-shaped steering wheel with just two controllers.

The C10 also includes a 12-speaker, 840-watt sound system said to support a 7.1 surround sound listening experience usually associated with home cinema set-ups.

Missing from the ensemble however are Apple CarPlay and Android Auto – word is the respective tech giants won’t verify Leapmotor’s in-house chipsets, so the brand is re-sourcing the hardware from an independent supplier.

As a result, smartphone mirroring won’t be offered until next year.

The rest of the C10’s in-car tech will be updated using plentiful over-the-air updates for the lifetime of the car.

There are two USB (Type A and Type C) ports in both rows of seating and a 15-watt wireless phone charging in the front armrest.

Digital key compatibility is also included, however our fleet of pre-production test cars suffered huge teething issues on the media event, specifically with the NFC key cards, that saw some journalists locked out of their car for 30 minutes.

All Australian 2024 Leapmotor C10s offered from launch will come with a rear-drive, single-motor powertrain comprising a permanent magnet synchronous motor mounted on the rear axle and a single reduction gear transmission.

Both models produce 170kW/320Nm and will launch the SUV from 0-100km/h in around 7.3 seconds – the Tesla is fractionally quicker (6.9sec) on paper but feels quicker on-road.

Despite spruiking its in-house tech, the 2024 Leapmotor C10 is powered by a 69.9kWh lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery sourced from CATL.

The claimed range for both C10 variants is 424km (WLTP) for both models – about 30km less than the Tesla Model Y RWD.

The WLTP average efficiency is 19.8kWh/100km.

Due to its 400V electrical architecture – the platform was designed and developed to support 800V – the C10 can only be DC fast-charged at up to 84kW, yielding a 40-minute 20-80 per cent top time.

That’s twice as long to charge as the similarly sized and priced XPeng G6.

Leapmotor claims most buyers won’t mind, but we think they will as Australia’s charging infrastructure improves.

If you're looking for a hushed, comfortable environment to cover plenty of kilometres, the 2024 Leapmotor C10 could be just the ticket, with levels of refinement claimed to match much more expensive German premium EVs.

The ride over admittedly smooth Italian roads is decent, thanks in part to the Euro chassis tune honed by Maserati no-less, and the C10 does demonstrate some agility, however grip from the Dunlop EV tyres was lacking in the wet.

In the dry it was easy to spin up an inside wheel in slower corners, hinting at a lack of traction.

It’s also worth mentioning the smooth way the e-motor dishes out its modest power and torque, but where the C10 ultimately fails to impress dynamically is with its steering.

While precise it doesn't offer the linear responses of the best-in-class.

Deduct more points for the awful-feeling brake pedal that feels like it’s been lifted off an arcade simulator, and the tortuous infotainment system that’s both frustrating and distracting.

If ever you need evidence to launch a campaign to bring back real buttons, go look at a C10.

Our car was also full of unacceptable bugs, from the key cards that stopped working to a climate control system that refused to adjust its air vents on the move.

Worst of all the teething issues however were the brakes. At low road speeds on a downhill stretch, we suddenly suffered a brief lack of mechanical braking that was then accompanied by a violent juddering through the body, not too dissimilar to the way early ABS brakes used to struggle over wet leaves or snow.

Leapmotor is investigating but said the issue could be related to ‘Comfortable Stop’ function which employs the rear motor’s regenerative braking to smooth-out hard braking.

While the cars we tested were admittedly pre-production vehicles, we think any buyer who experiences a fault like that would return their car to the dealer.

The C10 is said to be capable of towing up to 1500kg and has a roof rack rated to carry up to 100kg.

Without all-wheel drive the 2024 Leapmotor C10 is best left on-road.

The drive route took in a brief foray onto gravel tracks, and it didn’t take long for the C10 to struggle for traction – without a dedicated off-road mode, we’d worry about getting stuck in even modest conditions.

The 2024 Leapmotor C10 is one of the most spacious players in its segment, especially in the second row where even the overtly tall will find plenty of leg- and kneeroom.

Bootspace is decent at 435 litres, and we like the baby-soft silicon-based faux leather seats that offered high levels of comfort.

While tricky to use on the fly, the minimalist cabin presents well for the most part, save perhaps for the centre console’s design which looks a little unfinished, but the C10 feels well-made, rattle-feel and is made-up of well-chosen materials.

All C10s are produced in China at the time of writing, however it’s rumoured production could be shifted to Europe to help circumnavigate recent tariffs, specifically to one of the Fiat or Alfa Romeo factories in Italy.

The 2024 Leapmotor C10 shows plenty of promise and is mightily tempting to snap-up with its low projected pricing but, ultimately, we’d hold-off until the MY25 upgrades are rolled out, upgrades that should include an 800V electrical architecture and bring 200kW-plus DC fast-charging.

It’s also worth waiting for the introduction of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, the nascence of which is a huge oversight.

As for the glitches, including our braking issue, we have faith the Chinese brand will solve them in the coming weeks and months.

In the three weeks before we drove the C10, Leapmotor in China released four over-the-air updates for the vehicle in China, improving everything from the infotainment to the driver assist tech – a huge benefit of developing everything in-house.

We eagerly await another drive on home soil to see how the C10 handles Australian roads because even with its faults, it feels like it could be a decent mid-sized SUV.

Until then, cars like the Tesla Model Y and latest XPeng G6 are quicker, much faster to charge, better to drive and should prove easier to own – even without the mighty network of Jeep dealers supporting the ownership experience behind the scenes.

2025 Leapmotor C10 at a glance:
Price: Estimated $45,000 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Powertrain: Dual permanent magnet synchronous motors
Output: 170kW/320Nm
Transmission: Single-speed reduction gear
Battery: 69.9kWh lithium-ion (107kWh usable)
Range: 424km (WLTP)
Energy consumption: 19.8kWh/100km (WLTP)
Safety rating: Not tested

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