Stellantis Pushes Leapmotor Further Into Europe With B10 Crossover

If you can’t beat them, join them, right? Stellantis has been open about its apprehension about anti-China tariffs affecting the EV market in Europe, but that hasn’t stopped the conglomerate from going all-in with its new Chinese partner—Leapmotor. At this year’s Paris Auto Show, it unveiled a new EV crossover designed for global markets: the B10.

As the reasonably-priced EV crossover, the B10 joins two other cars, a mid-sized C10 and a T03 city car. Leapmotor’s founder, Zhu Jiangming, says the B10 is the brand’s first EV designed explicitly for global markets. “The B10 embodies our vision for an electric future—offering not only superior performance and smart connectivity but also making that future accessible to consumers worldwide,” said Zhu, in a Stellantis Press release. Thus, Leapmotor promises a lot of in-car connectivity and advanced ADAS systems for not so much money. Chinese market pricing for the B10 has already been announced. The B10 could start at as little as $14,110 (100,000 CNY).

Of course, Chinese pricing often has no bearing on what it’ll be sold for elsewhere. The C10 famously made headlines for its $17,500 price, yet Europeans won’t be able to get one for anything cheaper than $39,600 (36,400 EUR). That’s still a very competitive price, though. 

The B10 itself is kind of dull but pleasant and neatly styled. The front and rear fascia are somewhat Porsche-ish, but it’s foolhardy to call this anything resembling a clone. The big doors and (relatively) small wheels will certainly be a boon to families needing as much space as possible from their compact crossover. Size-wise, it competes this EV will compete in the global compact crossover segment, which is a tad bit smaller than what we’d consider to be compact in the U.S. Think Volkswagen Taos, rather than Volkswagen Tiguan.

Aside from the news that this model will be on Leapmotor’s LEAP 3.5 platform, there are no other mechanical specifications given by the brand. The B10 will launch in full EV version, but some have speculated that an EREV model with a gas engine could join the lineup at a later date. EREV versions of the C10 and C16 already exist in China. Regardless, Stellantis and Leapmotor plan on launching more B-series models that slot alongside this crossover.

Remember, this joint venture tie-up between Leapmotor and Stellantis gives Leapmotor a quick way into Europe. While a hefty tariff looms over other Chinese EV manufacturers importing cars from China, Leapmotor’s offerings will be made in Europe. The T03 city car is already made in Stellantis’s Tychy, Poland plant, which formerly made the gas-powered Fiat 500. The B10 crossover is expected to join the T03 there shortly.

So far, this seems like a wise move for Stellantis. Although it seems like Leapmotor’s developments and operations are somewhat walled off from the rest of Stellantis right now, there could be future collaboration on products very soon here. That bodes well for Stellantis, which has struggled recently to move its pricy and flawed EVs (like the new 500e) around the globe. By contrast, Leapmotor’s first offerings in Europe have debuted to generally favorable reviews. If Stellantis can inject some of that into its own lineup, then things could turn around for the troubled as-of-late brand. Perhaps we could see a Dodge-branded Leapmotor B10 at U.S. dealerships in the near future?