Leapmotor C10 REEV 2025 Review

The 2025 Leapmotor C10 REEV, or ‘Range Extended Electric Vehicle’, is priced at $45,900 drive away for the entry-grade Style SUV and $49,900 drive away for the top-spec Design variant.

Those drive-away prices apply to all vehicles purchased and delivered before June 30, 2025, and until then it also means the Leapmotor C10 REEV is Australia’s most affordable PHEV, undercutting its Chinese compatriots such as the BYD Sealion 6 ($48,990 plus on-road costs), Haval H6 GT PHEV ($55,990 drive away) and MG HS PHEV ($49,690 drive away).

The chief Japanese contender in the mid-size or family SUV space with a PHEV option is the Mitsubishi Outlander ES, ($57,290 plus on-road costs) but it’s starting to look overpriced compared to its Asian competitors.

Leapmotor’s razor-sharp pricing will likely curry favour with buyers looking for value given the Chinese chariot is large, practical and well-equipped.

Standard features on the $45,900 base-grade C10 Style read like those of a high-end model, with a large panoramic glass roof, LED headlights and taillights, and 18-inch alloy wheels on the outside, and power-operated seats, a 10.25-inch digital driver’s display, a 14.6-inch central touch-screen infotainment system with sat-nav, dual-zone climate control (via heat pump), a wireless phone charger and a rather impressive 12-speaker, 840W sound system on the inside.

The circa-$50K Leapmotor C10 Design adds a bit more bling in the form of 20-inch alloys, an LED rear light bar and tinted rear windows. A power-operated tailgate is also added (but really should be standard on both grades), as are automatically heated and cooled front seats with higher-quality synthetic leather upholstery, and ambient lighting.

Safety features are comprehensive, starting with autonomous emergency braking (AEB), adaptive cruise control, lane-keep assist, cross-traffic alert, exit warning and a 360-degree parking camera, backed up by rear parking sensors.

It comes with seven airbags covering both front and rear seat occupants, plus blind-spot monitoring and driver attention monitoring. But a couple of the safety systems are so poorly calibrated it feels safer to drive the car with them turned off. More on that later.

Power is supplied by a modest rear-mounted e-motor (160kW/320Nm) that drives the rear wheels through a single-speed reduction gear.

The e-motor draws energy from a 28.4kWh lithium-ion LFP battery pack. There’s also a non-turbo 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine that acts purely as a generator to recharge the battery via an inbuilt 50kW inverter.

Leapmotor says with a full battery charge the C10 PHEV can cover 145km (WLTP) in pure EV mode. A combined range of 970km (WLTP) is possible with a full 50-litre fuel tank. That’s a solid number for a PHEV but a Toyota RAV4 can do roughly the same distance in ideal conditions – although it has a slightly larger 55L tank.

For the record, Leapmotor says the C10 REEV is not a PHEV.

This is because the mid-size SUV’s petrol engine doesn’t drive the wheels at all and acts purely as a generator to recharge the battery pack, similar to the Nissan X-Trail e-Power.

But for all intents and purposes it’s a PHEV or plug-in hybrid EV and (mostly) operates in a similar fashion to rivals like the BYD Sealion 6, among others.

Leapmotor, which is a joint venture between the Chinese car-maker and European car-giant Stellantis, comes with an appealing six-year warranty, although its 150,000km distance limit means it lags competitors with unlimited-kilometre warranties.

The high-voltage lithium-ion battery warranty is competitive at eight years/160,000km, while Leapmotor sweetens the aftersales deal with an eight-year capped-price service program and eight years of complimentary roadside assist.

The 2025 Leapmotor C10 REEV has many strengths. It drives better than most of its Chinese rivals thanks to its Maserati-tuned suspension, it can travel a long way on one tank of fuel, it’s quiet and refined for the most part, and it has a welcoming, spacious and almost luxurious interior.

Perceived quality is quite good for a vehicle that undercuts pretty much every other Asian mid-size PHEV SUV on price, presenting very strong value for money… at least until June 30, 2025.

But even after that date when the special drive-away prices end, it’s still likely to be a sharply priced family SUV.

For the sub-$50K cash splash you get all the usual stuff offered by Chinese challenger brands. The list includes a big, high-def 2.5K touch-screen powered by Qualcomm chipsets for ultra-rapid response and load times, a massive panoramic glass roof and comfy power-operated front seats upholstered with remarkably supple synthetic leather.

Cabin aesthetics are a high point. The neat and simple interior design lends the car a peaceful ambiance, and when coupled with the quiet interior it begets tranquillity. The 12-speaker stereo is another highlight.

Even when the petrol engine ignites to start recharging the LFP battery, it’s subdued and not as droning and thrashy as the engine vocals experienced in some rivals.

It certainly feels like a high-tech vehicle, while the top-spec C10 PHEV Design we tested featured automatically heating and cooling seats, which are guided by the outside temperature. You can also operate them manually.

That it can travel more than the double the distance of its Leapmotor C10 EV sibling (420km) is impressive. And while the six hours we spent testing the vehicle suggested a potential range of around 850km, not 970km, another bonus is that the Dongfeng-supplied (and Nissan-designed) engine sips 91 RON fuel, meaning it should prove cheap to run.

But the two most impressive elements of the C10 REEV are interior space and its ride and handling. Front and back seat passengers have very good head, shoulder and leg room and very good amenity, and while boot space isn’t class leading, it’s comparable to rivals.

And compared to those Chinese rivals, the C10’s ride and handling is impressive. There’s a level of compliance to the suspension that smooths out rougher roads and enables the car to absorb bigger hits without transferring the shock into the cabin.

It also tracks through corners with confidence while maintaining a flat attitude. It doesn’t get tossed around like a small boat in rough seas, which perhaps can’t be said for most electric mid-size SUVs from China.

The 2025 Leapmotor C10 REEV has a high-tech look and feel, with the requisite digital screens with plenty of functionality. However, the lack of physical buttons for high-use systems – things like the temperature settings, air vent direction, volume and so on – can lead to frustration.

If you’re a tech-head this won’t be an issue, but if you’re coming from a Toyota, Mazda or Mitsubishi, it’ll take some time to acclimatise.

There’s also no Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. This means you must use the sub-par native GPS satellite navigation. During the launch drive we made several wrong turns due to the ambiguity of the system at busy multi-lane junctions.

Over-the-air (or ‘OTA’) updates may improve the sat-nav but (mercifully) the global head of Leapmotor has confirmed that by August 2025 all C10 models will have Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

Leapmotor is acutely aware of the software issues facing its C10 mid-size SUV – whether EV or PHEV – as evidenced in the more than two dozen OTA updates it has fired off since the curvy car launched in late 2024.

But there’s still plenty more to do.

The frustrations around the advanced driver assistance systems we encountered during our first drives of the EV persist.

Granted, the challenger brand has created a new quick menu that allows drivers turn off the most annoying systems with two gestures – swipe down, then tap the offending system. Job done.

But these systems, which are supposed to improve safety and streamline the drive experience, are so intrusive and interfere so deeply that for this driver it felt safer to have them switched off.

The lane keep assist function, for example, often yanks the steering wheel abruptly. Even when fully turned off there’s still an emergency lane keep system that kicks in.

And the autonomous emergency braking and adaptive cruise control systems feel crude and require re-calibrating to better suit our western driving culture.

On three separate occasions on the freeway, with adaptive cruise control turned on, I indicated to change lanes to overtake trucks (with a significant buffer zone) but was rebuked by alarmingly forceful brake pumps. At best the SUV was overreacting and at worst it was manic. It was enough to elicit obscenities from myself and my passenger.

Indeed, many of the ADAS functions are unavoidably vexing. They are by far the biggest issues facing the C10 at present – but they can be fixed.

A couple of other smaller frustrations include the fact that there’s no key fob – and Leapmotor says there probably never will be (although there are aftermarket key fobs out there). Instead, you get this key card doodad that you must tap on the driver’s side mirror to unlock the car (it doesn’t work on the passenger side).

Then you must place it on the wireless phone charging pad to start the car, although you can remove it once the car is in drive. A better option is to use the smartphone app to unlock and start the car.

Lastly, the powertrain isn’t very powerful compared to some rivals and while it’s smooth and refined, acceleration is languid. It’s a marathon runner, not a sprinter.

Now that’s not a big issue per se – and Leapmotor is working on a more powerful C10 – but the lack of muscle is noticeable when prepping for overtakes and so on.

The Leapmotor C10 REEV has the same e-motor, the same equipment levels and the same spacious interior as the EV version – only it’s more affordable in Australia and can cover double the range without resupply. Those are two good reasons to choose it over the EV.

Given how popular PHEVs are right now in Australia – in part because they alleviate range anxiety – it wouldn’t be unreasonable to suggest the plug-in hybrid version of the Leapmotor C10 will have considerably more showroom appeal than its EV sibling.

But what should be a polished product right out of the gate has some rough edges. The driver assistance systems in particular require recalibrating. No doubt the format works well in China’s cut-and-thrust driving culture, but it doesn’t always translate smoothly to our western driving ethos.

Should you buy it? That’s a tough question. On one hand I think yes, because a lot of the problems with the vehicle can be fixed by software updates – the SUV’s fundamentals are sound. It presents a premium and spacious cabin concept and largely delivers a refined driving experience.

On the other hand, it feels as though the product was rushed out – never a good look. A bit more country-calibration and polish and it’ll be easier to recommend.

2025 Leapmotor C10 REEV Design at a glance:
Price: $49,900 (drive-away)
Available: April 2025
Powertrain: 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol-electric
Output: 158kW/320Nm (electric motor: 158kW/320Nm)
Combined output: 158kW/320Nm
Transmission: Single-speed reduction gear
Battery: 28.4kWh lithium-ion (LFP)
Range: 145km EV, 970km combined (WLTP)
Fuel: 0.9L/100km (NEDC)
CO2: 21g/km (NEDC)
Safety rating: Five-star (ANCAP 2024)

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