We know the number one thing turning most buyers off going electric is still the upfront cost.
This car, though, from yet another Chinese upstart brand, marks a new phase of electrification in our market.
You see, this Leapmotor C10 electric mid-size SUV has reached price parity with popular mid-spec SUV rivals, which this newcomer is hoping will appeal to more than just the EV early adopter crowd, and beyond to the mass-market buyer.
Does it have what it takes to bring electrification more into the mainstream? Would you really buy a Leapmotor over a mid-spec Toyota RAV4?
We went to the C10’s Australian launch to find out.
Leapmotor C10 2025: Style
Engine Type | 0.0L |
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Fuel Type | Electric |
Fuel Efficiency | 0.0L/100km (combined) |
Seating | 5 |
Price From | $45,888 |
Safety Rating |
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Price and features – Does it represent good value for the price? What features does it come with? 9/10
9 / 10
Not long ago, the most affordable electric mid-size SUV cost something like $70,000. Then it was the mid-$60K mark, then some time in 2024, the number dropped down to the mid-$50K mark.
The big news with the introduction of the Leapmotor C10, though, is its headline-grabbing drive-away price-tag of $47,500. That’s right, at the time we put this review together, you could get into this electric mid-size SUV for roughly the same money as a Toyota RAV4 GXL Hybrid.
Unlike the BYD Atto 3, which is even more affordable, the C10 is properly a mid-size SUV too. Part of Leapmotor’s promise is you’ll get an impressive amount of kit for the price, for a car which happens to be electric, and by some metrics they’re not wrong.
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Highlights on the entry-level C10 Style include 18-inch alloys, LED headlights, a 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster, a 14.6-inch central multimedia touchscreen with built-in navigation and over-the-air software capabilities, synthetic leather interior trim, a wireless phone charger, dual-zone climate, 360-degree parking cameras, a 12-speaker audio system, a panoramic sunroof (with closing shade), and a comprehensive active safety suite.
Stepping up to $51,500 (drive-away, $49,888 before on-roads), the top-spec Design adds blended ‘silicone-leather’ seat trim, heating and ventilation for the front two positions, a heated steering wheel, a power tailgate, an air quality monitor, RGB ambient interior lighting, 20-inch alloy wheels, rear window tinting and an animated rear light bar.
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Perhaps most interesting are the things you don’t get. The biggest missing item is Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity, which could be a dealbreaker for some buyers. There’s also no all-wheel-drive option, no option for real leather or cloth interior trims, and no option for some premium touches like a head-up display for example. There’s not even a remote key. Instead, the car comes with a keycard which needs to physically touch the wing mirror to unlock the car, or you can use an app. Only one phone can be paired with the car at a time, though.
Rivals include the aforementioned Atto 3 which is a half-size smaller (but can be had from $39,990), Kia’s EV5 (from $56,770), and the omnipresent Tesla Model Y (from $55,900, at least until the update arrives). Almost every other car takes a significant price-hike from there, with the likes of the Toyota bZ4X (from $66,000), Hyundai Ioniq 5 (from $69,800), Subaru Solterra (from $69,990), Ford Mustang Mach-E (from $64,990), and Kia EV6 (from $72,590) remaining out of reach for many mid-size SUV buyers.
The pressure will be on Geely with its incoming EX5 to bring the fight to Leapmotor in this new late-$40k price-bracket, but for now the C10’s primary competitor is realistically the XPeng G6, which is an equally unknown but more luxurious pitch starting from $54,800 before on-roads.
Design – Is there anything interesting about its design? 7/10
7 / 10
The C10 looks a little bit to me like if you asked AI to design a mid-size SUV. On the one hand, it’s a little plain and featureless, taking in lots of elements of different rival cars and amalgamating them into one inoffensive package.
On the other hand, there’s something to be said for an electric SUV which doesn’t go out of its way to grab eyeballs. While it’s not as interesting to look at as a Hyundai Ioniq 5 or a Kia EV6 for example, the C10 also doesn’t fall into some of the trappings of some Chinese newcomers.
There’s no excessive amount of chrome, no unnecessary plastic trimmings or spoilers, no overbearing grille design and no overload of badgework emblazoned across its tail. It looks approachable and anonymous, perhaps perfect for the family buyer who wants to fly a little under the radar whilst also driving a fully electric car.
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The same vibe is present when you step into the cabin. The C10 continues to feel like a combination of trends from across the automotive industry, with a plain minimalistic dash, and a very screen-focused cockpit.
I would argue it falls into the camp of taking minimalism a bit too far. The pursuit of Tesla-style clutter-free design (which is just disguised cost-cutting) has seen removal of almost every button from the dash area. There are no physical climate controls or even a push-start button, the C10 is just on when you get in it so long as the keycard is floating around.
Thankfully, Leapmotor hasn’t gone so far as to remove a physical drive shifter or indicator, both of which are physical stalks on the steering column. The presence of an actual dashboard is a pleasant point of difference from a Model Y, too.
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You also get a choice of two interior colours, a terracotta-style ‘Criollo Brown’ or a Charcoal ‘Midnight Aurora’, both of which are quite nice, although the exterior is available in just five colours for now, white, two greys, green, and black.

Practicality – How practical is its space and tech inside? 7/10
7 / 10
The Leapmotor C10 is well and truly in mid-size SUV territory, and its modern platform design gives it a spacious interior. There’s plenty of legroom and arm-space up front in the cabin, and it sports an array of comfortable surfaces for elbows and knees.
The raised centre console is a modern, luxurious touch, and offers a healthy amount of storage both in its armrest console box, and in the tray which runs underneath and conceals the 12-volt and USB connectors for a clutter-free look.
The wireless charger takes pride of place on the driver’s side console for quick and easy access, and there are dual bottle holders with adjustable ridges on the sides. These are nice to have but proved a bit shallow in our test-drive. Each door also offers a large pocket and bottle-holder, too, and while the seats and wheel offer a flexible range of motion, there’s no lumbar adjustment.
The real frustration is the lack of those physical buttons. The climate systems have a permanent space in a toolbar at the bottom of the main screen for ease of access, although even adjusting the vent direction is entirely digital and requires interacting with the climate sub-menu.
Some functions are handily kept in a swipe-down tray on the main screen, although aside from the primary lane keep and driver attention systems, the rest have to be adjusted in a somewhat confounding menu in the settings screen.
There are also voice control functions to adjust some things on the fly, although I never find them particularly intuitive, and the car we tested was a little temperamental in its response to commands.
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All of these new features might make the car look and feel a certain way, but there’s a reason we’re seeing safety bodies in Europe now looking to mandate physical buttons for core functions like climate, there’s just no beating a button or dial you can reach for without looking away from the road.
When it comes to sheer space, the back seat is excellent. Behind my own driving position (I’m 182cm tall) there is plenty of knee room, and the flat floor leaves plenty of space for your feet, or even for the storage of objects. Most of the same soft-touch materials continue, including the spongy seat trim.
The rear seats are also missing some amenities. You get small pockets in each door, dual adjustable air vents on the centre console, a USB-A and a USB-C port, as well as two (again, shallow) cupholders atop the console in front, but it seems a shame the C10 is missing a full-size household power outlet in the cabin to make better use of its battery. Additionally, there’s no ski port or bottle holders in the drop-down armrest.
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You can also completely set the front seats to lie flat for a kind of camping set-up in the cabin, which is a neat touch with a perhaps niche use-case.
The boot measures an impressive-sounding 581 litres with all five seats up, although this is measured to the roof (not the top of the back seats) so in reality it looks and feels closer to what you’d get in a regular mid-size SUV (around 450+ litres). Unfortunately there’s no spare wheel, just an inflator kit under the floor, alongside a cubby area good for storing your charging cables.
There isn’t a frunk in the C10, at least not yet. The brand’s representatives say there’s room for one and they are looking into a genuine accessory piece to fit into there. The C10 is also capable of supporting vehicle-to-load allowing you to dispense power from its charging port, although Leapmotor doesn’t yet have a genuine accessory, and as such, one doesn’t come with the car.
Under the bonnet – What are the key stats for its motor? 6/10
6 / 10
There’s not a lot to see under the bonnet, just a collection of hardware relating to the cooling of the battery and motor, largely because the C10 is rear-wheel drive only.
Its motor produces 160kW/320Nm which, to be fair, is more than Toyota's bZ4X although this hardly sets the bar high. The reality is you’ll be compromising on performance to buy an EV with this equipment at this price, so don’t expect to be pulling punches with the Teslas of the world.
The motor is about right for a tame SUV. It doesn’t feel like it wants for power, particularly compared to combustion or hybrid rivals at this price, but it’s certainly not quick for an EV.
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Efficiency – What is its driving range? What is its charging time? 5/10
5 / 10
Sadly, the other area where you’re compromising on at this price is efficiency and charging specs.
Starting with efficiency, the C10 has an official WLTP consumption of 19.8kWh/100km which is, put simply, not good enough when most larger EVs with bigger, heavier batteries and even all-wheel drive are more energy efficient.
As we were hopping in and out of different cars during the launch drive program, it’s hard to test whether the official number is fair to the car (many EVs can do better than their official claim in the real world), so tune in later for a longer-term test to see how it performs.
On the range front, the C10’s 69.9kWh lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery delivers up to 420km on the WLTP testing procedure, which is competitive for this price-point, but again, needs a longer-term drive to be evaluated.
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Then comes charging, the C10 is one of the slowest-charging new EVs on the market, with a DC charging capability capped at 84kW. Most electric cars (even if they struggle to achieve it) are now rated to at least 150kW. Leapmotor says the C10 can still top the battery up to 80 per cent in 30 minutes, although it uses a 30-80 per cent bracket for this number compared to the usual 20 - 80 per cent.
To add insult to injury, the C10 is also only capable of supporting slow AC charging at a rate of 6.6kW, which is definitely on the slower side for a battery this size as many rivals offer at least 11kW.
This makes it not worth plugging the C10 in at AC chargers which are generally located in small shopping centres and street-side because it will only gain around 10 per cent of battery per hour.
Driving – What's it like to drive? 6/10
6 / 10
Driving the C10 is interesting because it clearly prioritises things which its rivals don’t. This is a car preoccupied with being a comfortable family tourer above all else.
There’s great visibility out of its glasshouse cabin, soft, comfortable seats, and featherweight steering in its default and aptly named ‘comfort’ driving mode.
Like many other EVs, the light overly electrically assisted steering has the byproduct of making it feel a little artificial and removed from the road, but the ‘Sport’ driving setting adds back some much-needed heft.
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The C10 is also not fast. Stomping on the accelerator pedal proves a slow spool-up response from the electric motor rather than the usual thud of instant torque which many of its more performance-oriented rivals provide.
It does feel predictable and grippy, though, likely owing to the responsible Dunlop tyre choice which ships on the top-spec Design variant we drove.
The stand-out feature of the drive experience for me is the ride comfort. The C10 is plush, soft, doughy, even. It soaks up bumps in its stride and floats over most corrugations, potholes, and imperfections. Obviously, the trade-off of such a forgiving ride response is a boatiness in the corners. The C10’s wide body leans in significantly, but reaches a limit before it becomes uncomfortable. A testament, perhaps, to the Maserati-tuned ride which Leapmotor says it leaned on its Stellantis partner for during the C10’s development. Sporty is not it by any stretch of the imagination, however. I’d describe it more as comfortable and competent.
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The C10 also proved relatively quiet and refined, too, with a nice cabin ambiance to it, even on more coarse-grain country roads, impressive for the price and the fact Leapmotor is barely 10 years old as a company. A lot of the fundamentals at least seem to be solid, with only a bit of an odd non-linear brake pedal response taking some getting used to.
The primary pain points for the C10 are more in its interfaces and safety system calibration. It’s annoying to have to adjust things via the massive touchscreen on the fly, shortcuts or not, and the active safety systems are numerous and at times befuddling.
For example, you need to be parked to adjust some safety systems, but not others. You can’t change drive modes when single-pedal mode is enabled, which you also need to park the car to disable, and there are three different forms of lane assist system, all of which are annoying enough you have to turn them off.
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It’s not the worst lane keep system I’ve used, but it’s not great, and despite Leapmotor saying it has already rolled out calibration updates for these systems, they clearly need more work.
Warranty & Safety Rating
Safety – What safety equipment is fitted? What is its safety rating? 7/10
7 / 10
Leapmotor says there are no less than “17 advanced driver assist functions” in the C10, and it does impress with its sheer hardware.
Sporting one front-facing camera, four surround cameras, two radars and four ultrasonic sensors, the C10 has a comprehensive array of kit from freeway-speed auto emergency braking to rear cross-traffic alert with AEB. It also scores lane-keep assist with lane departure warning, adaptive cruise control, blind-spot monitoring, driver attention alert, door open warning and speed sign recognition.
Again, some of these systems could use further calibration, particularly lane support and driver attention alerts, with the traffic sign assist also constantly sounding a chime even when it picks up the wrong speed zone. Leapmotor brags about its ability to quickly roll-out tweaks to these systems, so we’ll see if they’re listening post-launch.
The Leapmotor C10 already holds a maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating with strong scores across all categories to the 2024 rating criteria.
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Ownership – What warranty is offered? What are its service intervals? What are its running costs? 8/10
8 / 10
Any new brand will carry some risk. We just don’t know how these cars will age yet, but at the very least Leapmotor is backed by Stellantis (the owner of Jeep and Alfa Romeo) in Australia, which means it comes with a pre-existing dealer network. Not every Stellantis location is set-up to support these cars from the get-go, but this seems to be the aspiration.
As it stands, it launches with 12 sales, service and parts locations around the country, mainly centred around the east coast, with one location in Perth. There are no locations yet in the Northern Territory or Tasmania.
The C10 scores a seven-year/160,000km warranty with a standard eight-year/160,000km battery warranty and five years of roadside assist.
It also comes with a capped-price servicing program, which costs $2000 for five years or $400 a year. That's surprisingly expensive for an electric car.
Verdict
In most ways, the Leapmotor C10 does exactly what it says on the tin. With such a keen starting price, it represents undeniable value in the EV space, and fulfils Leapmotor’s mission of making electric motoring more accessible for families on a combustion-car-sized budget.
However, there’s also an element of getting what you’re paying for. The C10 isn’t exciting to drive, has some of the slowest charging specs on the market, it isn’t particularly energy efficient on paper, and there’s no denying the interior feels a little stripped out and software-dependent even though it’s spacious and versatile.
I could easily see how the C10 could be right for some buyers over a combustion price-competitor just on running costs alone, particularly for those who can amortize the cost with solar at home, but it remains to be seen if price parity is enough to truly put the early adopter phase of electric cars behind us, as the brand is surely hoping.
Pricing Guides

Range and Specs
Vehicle | Specs | Price* |
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Design | Electric, 1 SPEED AUTOMATIC | $49,888 |
Style | Electric, 1 SPEED AUTOMATIC | $45,888 |