Stellantis relocating Chinese EV maker Leapmotor’s European production from Poland

Leapmotor says move is likely to drive up its European production costs by about 10 per cent, but it has no plans to raise prices

Mainland electric vehicle (EV) maker Leapmotor’s European production is expected to be moved to a Stellantis factory in Spain, Germany, Italy or Slovakia after the Dutch firm stopped making its Chinese partner’s cars in Poland earlier this year.

Leapmotor and Stellantis were likely to make a decision on the matter in June or July, with the goal of commencing production around the middle of next year, said Michael Wu, Leapmotor’s co-president, in an interview on Monday. This was the first time the company revealed details about its decision-making timeline.

“The Poland factory simply assembled our vehicles using components made in China, which made it not exempt from tariffs,” Wu said. “This time, we will use components produced locally [in Europe].”

The move was likely to drive up Leapmotor’s European production costs by about 10 per cent, but it had no plans to raise prices, Wu said. The company’s current overseas strategy is focused on expanding its sales and service network to drive up volume, he said.

By the end of 2025, the company expects that at least 10 per cent of its vehicles sold globally will come from outside China, Wu said. He added that the firm expects to report global vehicle sales of 500,000 to 600,000 units this year. In 2024, Leapmotor reported sales of 293,724 vehicles; around 4 per cent of that total came from outside China.

Leapmotor, based in Hangzhou in eastern China’s Zhejiang province, started making its T03 EVs at Stellantis’ plant in Tychy, Poland, in June 2024. It was Leapmotor’s first production base in Europe. In May last year, the two companies set up a joint venture that gave Stellantis exclusive rights to build, export and sell Leapmotor products outside China.

But Reuters reported last month that T03 production at the Stellantis facility stopped in March after the partners had earlier scrapped plans to build a second Leapmotor model, the B10, in Poland.

The decision came after Beijing last year asked carmakers to halt significant investments in European countries that supported additional European Union tariffs on Chinese-made EVs.

Hong Kong-listed Leapmotor said its 2024 revenue doubled from a year earlier to 32.16 billion yuan (US$4.46 billion). Revenue from overseas markets accounted for 3 per cent of the total in 2024, up from less than 1 per cent a year earlier, before its joint venture with Stellantis.

Leapmotor reported its first quarterly profit – 80.9 million yuan – in the fourth quarter of last year, driven by record deliveries and improved margins. The company was founded in 2015.