Each-way bet! Plug-in hybrid just as important for Leapmotor in Australia as BEVs; C10 and B10 PHEV SUVs on the way!

January 29, 2025January 28, 2025 Bruce Newton 3235 Views 0 Comments B10, C10, C16, Leapmotor, REEV

Rising BYD rival Leapmotor will have an equal focus on battery electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles in its rapidly expanding Australian line-up.

The Chinese brand, in co-operation with partner Stellantis, has just launched in Australia with the C10 electric mid-sized SUV, but it will also add a range extender plug-in hybrid C10 imminently (Leapmotor calls them Range Extender Electric Vehicles or REEVs).

And before the end of the year the B10 compact electric SUV will launch in Australia, with a REEV version expected to arrive at the same time or soon after.

The trend to focus on plug-in equally alongside EV will continue with expected future models including the C16 large seven-seat SUV and a bunch of yet-to-be revealed models for international markets.

Scheduled out to 2028, these include two hatchback passenger cars – one C-segment size (Toyota Corolla) and the other B (Toyota Yaris) – and a B-SUV (Toyota Yaris Cross).

The local commitment to PHEV reflects a global swing back to hybrids across the auto industry as the rate of EV adoption slows.

In Australia, EVs grew 4.7 per cent in sales in 2024 and PHEVs 100.2 per cent, although pure electric vehicles still outsold plug-in hybrids almost four to one.

Locally, the Leapmotor C10 REEV will take the fight up to the BYD Sealion 6, Mitsubishi Outlander and incoming Jaecoo J7 amongst others in the expanding mid-size plug-in SUV segment.

Leapmotor Australia director Andy Hoang predicted it would appeal to buyers not yet ready to commit to BEVs..

“I think you will get a lot of that group who are traditionally petrol that now go ‘you know what I do need some middle ground before I go full electric’, but how long that lasts we do not know,” he said.

“In the short term there will still be that demand for those petrol-electrics in the middle.

Hoang forecast a 50/50 split between Leapmotor BEV and PHEV customers in Australia.

However, he acknowledged that might be changed by interventions. For instance the impact of the end of the FBT exemption for PHEVs on April 1 is as yet unknown.

“Government might decide to take action and it [the market] might flip on its head,” he said.

The Tesla Model Y-fighting Leapmotor C10 BEV launches in Australia with two models priced under $50,000, both powered by a 160kW/320Nm rear-mounted e-motor mated with a 69.9kWh battery pack claiming 420km WLTP range.

The C10 REEV adds a 1.5-litre petrol engine to the arrangement, reduces the battery pack size to 28.8kWh and claims a 145km EV range and combined range up to 950km.

The B10, which could become Australia’s cheapest BEV, is 4.5 metres long (about the same as a Mazda CX-5) and comes in China with a choice of 132kW and 160kW rear-mounted e-motors.

Like the C10 REEV, the B10 REEV will add a 1.5-litre petrol engine to the powertrain.

Despite the local PHEV bullishness, Leapmotor International’s product and market chief Francesco Giacalone told Australian media at the local C10 BEV launch that Leapmotor’s long term emphasis remained on EVs.

“BEV will be the vast majority,” Giacalone forecast. “BEV is the technology of Leapmotor.

“Range extender is your first battery electric vehicle. It is perfect to manage a transition that can last three years, five years, 10 years.

“It depends how the markets will grow in terms in of maturity.

“But the main objective is to go big on battery electric vehicles.”