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Leapmotor, partly owned by Stellantis, outsold other Chinese electrified-vehicle startups in March, with deliveries rallying 154 percent to 37,095, according to figures released by the company April 1.
It was the first month Leapmotor became the top-seller among EV startups.
Leapmotor was established in 2015 in the east China city of Hangzhou. Stellantis acquired a 20 percent stake for 1.5 billion euros ($1.6 billion) in November 2023.
Stellantis and Leapmotor in May 2024 formed a 51-49 joint venture, Leapmotor International, in Amsterdam with the goal of selling Leapmotor vehicles outside China via Stellantis’ distribution network.
The partnership shipped the first batch of Leapmotor’s two full-electric vehicles — the C10 compact crossover and the T03 small sedan — from China to Europe in July 2024. In June 2024, Leapmotor began assembly of the TO3 from kits at a Stellantis plant in Poland.
Leapmotor did not disclose export volume for March.
In February, Leapmotor sold 1,730 cars in Europe, a leap of 1,532 percent over the previous year. The bulk of these — 1,480 — were small TO3s.
In March, among China’s EV startups, Leapmotor was followed by No. 2 Li Auto, whose deliveries advanced 27 percent to 36,674.
Xpeng ranked third, with March deliveries soaring 268 percent to 33,205.
With sales that topped 29,000, Xiaomi Auto, the EV unit of leading Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi Corp., outsold Nio to rank fourth among startups in March.
Xiaomi Auto launched sales of its first model, the SU7 full-electric sedan, in April 2024. A high-performance variant, the SU7 Ultra, went on sale Feb. 27.
Nio ranked fifth, with March deliveries gaining 27 percent to 15,039, including 4,820 vehicles sold under Nio’s second brand, Onvo.
On April 2, Ai Tiecheng, head of Onvo, resigned the brand’s limited sales.
In the first quarter, the five largest EV startups were Xpeng, with sales of 94,008; Li Auto, with 92,864 deliveries; Leapmotor, with sales of 87,552; Xiaomi Auto, with 70,000 deliveries; and Nio, with sales of 42,094.