Tell us about the small one first?
This is the Leapmotor B03, a smaller brother to the recently launched B05 hatchback, which will be gunning for the likes of the Renault 5 and the VW ID. Polo with a likely price tag of around €20,000-€25,000 when it arrives in Ireland next year.
What kind of power does the Leapmotor B03 have?
Quite a bit — the B03 comes with a 197hp electric motor powering the front wheels, and that takes its energy from a 53kWh lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) battery. With that battery, it can run for a grand total of 390km on a full charge.
How long does it take to charge up the Leapmotor B03?
That’s the interesting bit. Leapmotor says that the B03 is compatible with ‘2.5C’ charging and can charge at up to 133kW on DC, allowing a 10-80 per cent charge in just 21 minutes. That’s quite brisk.
It doesn’t look very interesting…
No, it doesn’t — not least because Leapmotor is showing it off at the Paris Motor Show, which this year has seen a slew of exciting European products and concept cars — but it will be practical. It has a very tight turning circle, lots of rear legroom (up to 888mm according to Leapmotor, which makes it very roomy indeed), a 405-litre boot (of which 90 litres are hidden in a handy ‘Leap Box’ under the boot floor) and a Leap Flex seat system, which means that not only do the back seats fold flat when you need more space, but the front passenger seat does too if you need to carry really long loads.
How techy is the Leapmotor B03?
Pretty techy. There’s a 14.6-inch floating touchscreen in the centre of the dash, which gets Leapmotor’s latest-gen 4.0 software; there’s wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto; an 8.8-inch digital driver’s display; and, of course, over-the-air software updates. There’s also lots of standard kit, including heated seats, a heated steering wheel and automatic climate control, plus safety equipment which includes a claimed 21 advanced driver assistance systems.
What about the big SUV?
The bigger car on Leapmotor’s Paris stand is the D19 SUV, which slots into the range above the already pretty big C10 electric and PHEV SUV that’s been on sale in Ireland for around a year now. You can have the D19 as a seven-seater or as a six-seater with luxurious ‘Captain’s Chairs’ in the middle row, and Leapmotor is claiming that the car has high-tech infotainment and ‘suspension that adapts to the road in real time’.
Read our Leapmotor C10 review.
Leapmotor says that the D19 will launch in Europe with its long-range plug-in hybrid REEV setup. In the Chinese market, this model uses a massive 80kWh battery for a 500km electric-only range and a combined 1,300km petrol-and-electric range, but this hasn’t been put through the WLTP test yet, so expect those figures to change by the time it reaches European and Irish showrooms.
What else is Leapmotor up to at the Paris Motor Show?
As well as showing off the B03 and D19, Leapmotor is also trying to portray itself as a European car maker. It’s just kicked off production of the B10 compact SUV at its new factory in Zaragoza, Spain, and Leapmotor is also introducing its new Free2move Charge service, which should make it easier to get a top-up when you’re out and about in unfamiliar places.
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