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| Leapmotor C10. |
There are 40 car brands selling electric cars on the Irish market, of which the top ten accounted for 74 per cent of the 22,380 BEVs sold this year, writes Brian Byrne. In that group, there's only one Chinese carmaker, BYD, at sixth place, and the Chinese-owned brand Volvo at number nine. The top spot is a lengths-ahead Volkswagen, followed by Kia and Hyundai.
That begs a question about the so-called 'invasion' of Chinese brands. While that is in fact a growing situation in cross-Europe EV sales, it seems less so, so far, in Ireland. But it may be only a matter of time before they catch up. The latest maker here is Leapmotor, initially with a small urban EV and a medium SUV. Its arrival brings to eight the number of Chinese EV brands here.
Rolling out its first car in 2017, the offshoot of a video surveillance technology company Leapmotor is currently number eight in the top ten of Chinese EV carmakers in a home China market massively dominated by BYD, which had a 31 per cent market share in 2024. That means Leapmotor fighting eight other local brands for a viability share of the remaining 69 per cent. Along with around 90 other smaller brands below the top ten. Leapmotor celebrated its one millionth car of the production line earlier this month.
That's going to be supported by a joint-venture sales operation with the global Stellantis group, as Leapmotor International, for all sales outside of China. The Irish distributor for Stellantis brands is Gowan Auto, which has enough automotive clout in the Irish market to give the new brand here a substantial leg-up. I had the chance to take first drives of the two initial models last week.
The T03 is designed as an urban hatchback supermini, entering a segment that's key to getting people into electric driving at an affordable cost — a segment with the potential to become savagely cut-throat. The style is not outstanding, perhaps even a little old-fashioned, but it has the advantage of being the tallest in its group and easy to get in and out of.
The interior is pleasantly styled to a quality level that promises sturdy resilience. A relatively small infotainment screen is set low on the dash, and a driver information pod has simple graphics that are decidedly European in readability. The T03 is technologically well-specced, with inbuilt navigation, adaptive cruise control, rear parking sensors, a wide-angle camera, and LED daytime lights. There's also a panoramic sunroof as standard. The range is rated at 265km, more than the Dacia Spring, which is a little cheaper, but not as much as the Hyundai Inster and BYD Dolphin Surf, the other key competitors. The car zipped along easily on a country road and motorway mix, though some wind noise was apparent because of the fairly upright styling. Given the level of specification and the overall solid feel of the car, the €18,950 is pretty competitive.
The C10 medium crossover is a straight battery-electric vehicle with a rated range of 420km, and also as a range-extended EV with a battery range of 145km and a 1.5 petrol engine that provides a total powertrain range of 975km. There are two levels of specification available. The styling is undramatic but with enough presence as befits a D-segment car.
Inside, there's a dramatically large infotainment screen and a smaller driver information screen. A distinct sense of emulating the Tesla in the former, and the lack of real buttons and switches, is part of that. In fairness, the full-time strip of key virtual buttons along the bottom of the main screen is accessible. However, it's still distracting to use as the all-time vigilant camera keeps reminding you if you even glance away momentarily from eyes-ahead. The car I drove had an unfortunate interior leather-type trim in brash orange, but less eye-watering finishes are available. The driving position is good, as is the all-round visibility, and the car motored with equal aplomb on the motorway and the country road sections of my driving time with it. I have only driven the EV so far, but I expect the REEV to give a similar ride and handling. The range at 420km is a bit less than that of the immediate competitors of Skoda's Enyaq and BYD's Sealion 7, but there's a good price advantage in the Leapmotor's €40,495.
I'll be driving all three cars fully in due course. Meanwhile, though, the Chinese space in the Irish car market will inevitably grow.
PRICES: T03 €18,950; C10 EV, from €40,495. WHAT I LIKED: There's a solid feel to both cars.