2026 Leapmotor B10 Review: This BYD Atto 2, Chery E5, Geely EX5, Jaecoo J5 and MG S5 rival presents a whole new angle on Chinese EVs
Sometimes, as a journalist, it can be tough to choose an angle for your story, but not in the case of the new Leapmotor B10 quite large but still officially small SUV EV. I’m going to go with the angle that I couldn’t help noticing on the digital driver’s binnacle.
The fact that it had somehow been attached in a way politely described as “not square” – or less pleasantly as “what the f..k” – seemed so unlikely that I actually made someone else sit in the driver’s seat and confirm for me that I wasn’t going mad.
Obviously, this does not suggest terms like “attention to detail” or “build quality”, but I’m going to be entirely fair here by pointing out that there were several Leapmotor B10s on the launch and only one of them had a dicky 8.8-inch LCD driver’s cluster.
I’ll go even further by saying that nothing else about these cars felt particularly cheap, nor nasty, and that overall, aside from having tyres that appeared to have been made with the rubber equivalent of Play-Doh – or possibly designed by the people in Hollywood who make car chases so noisy and squealing – the B10 is actually a fairly attractive package. At least if you’re looking for yet another cheap Chinese EV to line up against all the other ones.
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2026 Leapmotor B10 price and equipment
Now here’s the thing about the current glut of Chinese EVs, and this may not surprise you, but they’re all a bit the same. Or alarmingly the same, perhaps.
So much so that when I got out of the B10 for the first time I went and asked the Leapmotor product guy to remind me which giant conglomerate his company was a part of, because I was pretty damn sure the interior of his car was a direct lift from a Polestar, or a Geely.
But no, incredibly, despite the fact that it looks and feels so much like one of those cars, Leapmotor is a stand-alone brand, an island if you will, and is not even owned by the Chinese Government, which would make it unique if it wasn’t so desperately unoriginal.
While the materials are slightly different, the 8.8-inch LCD driver’s cluster and 14.6-inch central touch screen, including the graphics, looked and felt so much like a Polestar/Zeekr I would have bet they’d come out of the same factory.
Sadly, the product guy couldn’t explain, other than by shrugging, why the Chinese brands all want their cars to be so similar. I guess the Leapmotor B10 has its own exterior design language, one that seems only about 80 per cent borrowed from a Porsche Macan. But if you’re going to copy someone, go with someone good.
What this leaves us with is a situation where the only real way for punters to compare small but large SUV EVs from China is to go on price, and it is here that the Leapmotor leaps out at you.
This B10, which is quite big for a small SUV, and quite comfortable and has the kind of slathering of screens – and absence of physical buttons – that people apparently love now, can be yours from as little as $37,800 for the entry-level Style variant. Do you remember when you couldn’t get an EV for much under $60,000? I do, and it wasn’t that long ago.
The Style does come with built-in TikTok, which might appeal to facile idiots, but not much else – by which I mean you only get a 56kWh battery, good for 442km of NEDC range.
Anyone with any sense will surely shell out just $3000 more for the Design LR (it stands for Long Range), which gets a 67.1kWh battery, good for 516km of NEDC range, twice as many speakers (like 12), a heated steering wheel, heated and ventilated seats covered in “Techno leather” seats (a synthetic non-leather leather).
Boot space of 490 litres is comparable to slightly larger mid-size SUVs. Again, this is big for a small SUV, and big for the price.
Both options have drive-away offers at present – $38,990 for the Style and $41,990 for the Design LR. This is what’s called a “no brainer”.
While I think $42K is quite cheap for a brand-new EV, it’s important to note that the perceived value equation is quite high. In short, other than that one bent driver’s binnacle, this Leapmotor B10 feels like a much more expensive car than that, so you’d really feel like you’re getting a bargain.
And if you were worried about build quality you’d want to hear that it comes with a six-year, 150,000km warranty, an eight-year battery warranty, eight years of roadside assistance and eight years of capped-price servicing, at just $370 per year.
2026 Leapmotor B10: What we think
Another area that the Chinese all seem to agree on, and copy each other with, is safety systems and ADAS settings. The goal seems to be to make them as annoying as possible, and the way the B10 beeps and bongs and even tries to push you around, via steering wheel adjustments via lane intervention, is hard to miss.
Frankly, I had to turn the systems off to enjoy the car (although, weirdly, after about 40 minutes, without me stopping or getting out, the Leapmotor turned them back on without me asking). The aggressive ADAS wouldn’t so much drive you to drink as force you to pull over and take up being an alcoholic.
But here’s the good news. Once you take away the distractions, the Leapmotor B10 is a surprisingly good thing to drive, with an excellent chassis, a real feeling of solidity and torsional rigidity and the kind of effortless, usable acceleration that modern EVs specialise in. A 0 to 100km/h time of eight seconds isn’t exciting, true, but it’s very usable in the 40 to 80kmh range.
The fact that it’s rear-drive helps with the fun factor, but it’s no sports car, of course, but it shouldn’t be at this price point or in this segment, yet the chassis seems to have been built to cope with far more power than is on offer – 160kW and 240Nm.
In most cases, the ride quality is also quite good, although the B10 could get a bit light and flighty over undulations at times. Apparently the B10 has been “tuned by the Stellantis Chassis Master Team”, which seems strange, but Leapmotor has a joint venture arrangement with the giant European car group, which distributes the brand internationally, including Australia.
Where the B10 falls down – and buyers can quickly and easily fix this problem with a trip to their local tyre dealer – is the fitting of the standard LingLong rubber. These tyres are just not up to the job, and the slightest amount of speed around a corner has them squealing in a way that suggests they’re going to give up their grip. Fortunately it takes some provocation before they’ll actually slide, but it’s not confidence inspiring.
Overall, though, the B10 is a pleasant drive for an SUV, and a surprisingly good one for an EV at this price.
In economy terms, Leapmotor says the B10 Design LR – the only variant we were allowed to drive – uses 17.3kWh per 100 kilometres, but over our two days bwhind the wheel we actually saw consistently better numbers than that, despite enthusiastic driving, with an average closer to 15kWh.
2026 Leapmotor B10: Verdict
Yes, it is hard to ignore the quality control issue that the wonky driver’s screen suggests, but it really was in contrast to how well put together the rest of the Leapmotor B10 felt.
It was also far more enjoyable to drive than expected and for that reason, and the tempting price, I have bumped up its rating from 3.5 to 4 out of five, keeping in mind that one caveat.
SCORE: 4/5
2026 Leapmotor B10 Design LR price and specifications
Price: $41,990 drive away
Basics: EV , 5 seats, 5 doors, SUV, RWD
Range: 516km (NEDC)
Battery capacity: 67.1kWh
Battery warranty: 8 years/160,000km
Energy consumption: 17.3kWh per 100km
Motors: 1 rear, 160kW/240Nm.
AC charging: 11kW, Type 2 plug
DC charging: 168kW, CCS combo plug
0-100km/h: 8.0 seconds
