Stellantis-backed Leapmotor wants a ute

Ambitious Chinese electrification brand Leapmotor has landed in Australia and immediately declared it could build a ute.

Such a move would be dramatic for a brand known only for passenger cars and SUVs, like the mid-sized C10 EV it’s launching with in Australia, but it tallies with Leapmotor’s huge sales goals.

By 2030 it wants to be selling 500,000 vehicles annually outside China – in 2024 it sold just 3165.

The pick-up study is only two weeks old and is being conducted alongside a possible commercial vehicles program.

It was confirmed by Leapmotor International product marketing director Francesco Giacalone during an online interview with Australian journalists, and he didn’t rule out a potential 4x4 off-roader being developed alongside the pick-up either.

“It’s the advanced planning exercise we are doing,” he said.

“Two weeks ago I got Leapmotor calling me saying ‘Francesco, we need to assess globally the potential for Leapmotor to produce a pick-up truck and LCVs (light commercial vehicles)’.

“I say ‘woah, it’s a jump’.

“But that tells you how those guys are open-minded to enter any possible category and any possible product.

“I truly wake up every morning not knowing what I will find in my inbox in terms of new projects and new requests.”

Leapmotor was only established in 2015 and has set itself very much as a clone of fellow Chinese brand BYD in terms of sales ambition.

It has launched the C10 from $47,500 drive-away costs in Australia, undercutting the top-selling Tesla Model Y by more than $10,000.

Before you get too excited though, be aware Leapmotor has previewed its new model roll-out for global markets to 2028 and there’s not a ute in sight.

Following the C10 EV this year will be a range extender plug-in hybrid version (REEV).

Next to launch in late 2025 will be the B10 compact electric SUV which will likewise be followed by a B10 REEV in 2026 along with a large SUV of some description, likely an export version of the C16.

A pair of electric hatches and another SUV will then round out the initial product onslaught in 2027.

All of these models are available to Australia, but none are officially confirmed. Having said that the C10 REEV and the B10 are very much expected to come here.

Branching out into utes, vans and potentially serious off-road SUVs may not be as challenging to achieve as it might sound.

Having range extender plug-in powertrains in its line-up means a Leapmotor ute – like the BYD Shark 6 – can overcome the range limitations imposed by pure EVs.

The new C10 REEV claims a 145km electric-only WLTP range and a combined range of up to 950km.

The other factor is Leapmotor’s partnership with Stellantis, the umbrella company that includes 4x4 expert Jeep and pick-up truck expert RAM amongst its brands.

Those two are already developing PHEVs and EVs and a bit of technology and expertise sharing with Leapmotor International would seem entirely feasible.

Giacalone described the pick-up and SUV at the stage of “potential assessment”.

“You start with what the consumer will need, where and what will be developed for that project,” he said.

“And then from there you start to look at the financials. Who will build it, how much you can sell it and then you start to narrow down the broad program equation.

“The advantage of Leapmotor is that this honing and developing constantly a lot of technologies, so at the end there will be a lot of synergies between the product that exist and what can be created.

“That’s one of the advantages of course. Low hanging fruits will be more in the commercial vehicle more difficult will be the pick-up truck.

“But who knows. It’s not in the plan right now … but we are studying everything.”

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