If you haven never heard of Leapmotor, you have now.
When it comes to the Chinese auto industry, unknown car brands are a dime a dozen. What’s almost as common is for these unknown car brands to also to be domestically quite popular. One such brand is Leapmotor. They were founded in December 2015 and have already launched 3 vehicles based on technology and parts that they developed in-house or in close cooperation with a company called Dahua Technology.
Their first three cars were the Leapmotor S01 (a 2-door sports car), the T03 (a 5-door compact hatchback), and the C11 (a 5-door 7-seater SUV). Back in May 2022, they opened up the order book for their fourth entry, the C01. The company’s nomenclature indicates the platform in the first letter of the model name. Therefore the C01 actually shares its platform with the C11 SUV.
The Leapmotor C01 has a length of 5050mm, a width of 1902mm and a height of 1509mm with a 2930mm wheelbase. The drag coefficient is rather impressive at 0.225Cd thanks to hidden door handles and sleek bodywork.
Just yesterday, the company announced that they had taken some 100,000 reservations. However these are not the kind of reservations that require a deposit. That means the conversion rate will not be anywhere as high as one might expect.
The C01 is the company’s first ever 4-door sedan. It has an estimated price range of 180,000 to 270,000 RMB, which converts to roughly RM116,000 to RM174,000. That’s quite a large range, but it should be noted that the C01 is available with a lot of options and can even be configured as a single motor or dual motor vehicle and will be available starting Q3 of this year.
The single motor version has its electric motor on the rear axle and delivers 268hp and 360Nm of torque, which is respectable. The all-wheel drive dual motor variant has a very impressive 536hp and 720Nm of torque output, which essentially matches the BMW M850i xDrive we recently drove in terms of output.
The interior is quite upmarket with a symmetrical triple screen layout, one 10.25″ digital instrument cluster for the driver, one 10.25″ screen for the front passenger and a larger 12.8″ central infotainment system that is powered by the Qualcomm SA 8155P chip. Options include Nappa leather seats, a panoramic sunroof, executive seats for the rear and a suede headliner.
Driver assistance systems are quite impressive as well. The ADAS in here is guided by data from 11 cameras, 12 ultrasonic radars and 5 millimetre wave radars.
The Leapmotor C01 offers two power options. The single-motor rear-drive version has a max power of 200kW (268hp) and a peak torque of 360Nm. The dual-motor version has a max power of 400kW (536hp) and a peak torque of 720Nm.
All models have their battery modules integrated into the chassis. This ‘Cell-To-Chassis’ technology is a first for the company and is said to improve battery shock resistance and improve body torsional strength. Various battery sizes and motor configurations lead to three different cruising ranges for the C01 – 500km, 606km, and 717km.
