Leapmotor B03X Reviews

The extremely rapid pace of development maintained by Chinese car brands is impressive and largely comes down to the immense resources afforded to the industry.However, it’s not all money, the tech sector and people-power. Australia has had a significant hand in many of the nimble adaptations made since China’s car brands began looking past its borders for customers.To varying degrees, Australia has been somewhat of a testing ground for new Chinese cars as engineers and designers find the strengths and weaknesses of their work.This is not to say the Chinese car industry is in its infancy, but until recently there was no need for brands to tailor cars to suit global tastes.New car engineers from brands outside China have generally noted the preference, for example, for soft, wafty suspension and driver assistance systems.“We recognise that the Chinese tuning approach is very different from what we need to have here in Europe. So every market has a different taste,” Mazda Europe's Senior Manager of Product Development and Engineering Alexander Fritsche told media last year when explaining the work that went into developing the Mazda 6e electric car as a global model.Based on the Deepal L07, the Mazda 6e underwent major suspension changes and driver assist adjustments to suit Europe, and by extension Australia.“Particularly interesting… is that the Chinese market seems to like very mild, soft ride comfort,” Fritsche said.Preferences between Australia and Europe are more similar than between Australia and China, but the changes Mazda Europe made to the 6e aren’t the only example of this. Chinese brands have adjusted their approach to global models very quickly in the last few years, with the feedback from Australian customers, media, and even the brands’ own importers or Australian subsidiaries helping deliver cars that aren’t just built for domestic tastes.Stellantis Australia Senior Product Manager Rick Crichton spoke to media at the local launch of the Leapmotor B10 in early 2026 and said Leapmotor’s headquarters was not only receptive to Australian feedback, but regularly sought it.“They are constantly asking for our feedback,” Crichton said.“Us being the closest to the ground, I've got a pretty good handle on the Australian automotive landscape, so they are always curious for my feedback. “They want my input, and we put requests into them and they're super responsive because they are geared for success. “Even in some of the requests I've made for simple feature changes via OTA, they're coming through in, you know, lightning quick.”It’s not just brands new to the market like Leapmotor or Deepal that are quickly learning what Australian drivers and car buyers prefer.GWM has been in Australia for approaching two decades, having launched in 2009 as Great Wall.Although only the last decade of that has been factory-backed from headquarters in China, the brand’s long-running presence in Australia compared to its compatriots last year saw GWM take the step of employing one of Australia’s best-known ride and handling engineers, former Holden vehicle dynamics lead engineer Rob Trubiani.“GWM has been actively listening to local customer feedback for several years now with much of this feedback already making its way into the final tuning of new models making their way to the Australian and New Zealand markets,” GWM said in a statement announcing Trubiani’s recruitment in March 2025. “In hiring Mr Trubiani, GWM’s objective is to strengthen local engineering efforts with a view to further improving vehicle dynamics and, ultimately, customer experience across the region.”While the long-term effects of Trubiani’s presence at GWM are yet to be seen, new entry to the market, GAC, has already locally tested its three models from launch having worked with Toyota in China for decades.“We have learned a lot from them, and we believe that the customer will have a different experience by driving GAC,” Deputy General Manager of GAC Australia Cheney Liang told CarsGuide in November 2025.The Aion V mid-size electric SUV, the M8 plug-in hybrid people mover and the Emzoom compact SUV were the first three confirmed cars from the brand to land in Australia. “When we picked the models, we came to Australia. We have already done the Australian test,” Liang confirmed.Different approaches, different results, but the common theme that Australia is often the first external market for Chinese brands to learn in is clear.Who knows what the market will look like in a few more years, but it’s likely the increasing quality of Chinese cars won’t slow down.

Leapmotor has unveiled its special edition C10 Sports+ all-electric mid-size SUV, which will shake up the performance EV space. It will be priced from $53,888 (before on-road costs), which is $4000 more than the previous top-spec model. Unlike the rest of the C10 range, the car comes with all-wheel drive, while all other C10s have rear-wheel drive. The main change on this special edition C10 is the addition of a serious power upgrade, with its dual motor set-up producing 440kW and 760Nm, shifting the car from 0-100km/h in four seconds. This is substantially more power than the standard C10, which produces 160kW and 320Nm. These figures mean the C10 has a similar power output to the range-topping Tesla Model Y Performance, with a starting price of nearly $90,000. It is also cheaper than the most affordable rear-wheel drive variant of the Model Y .The car has been given a bigger 81.9kWh Lithium-Ferro-Phosphate (LFP) battery, offering a driving range of up to 437km, according to WLTP testing. This is only a slight improvement on the standard car (425km) due to the extra weight and increased power of the dual motor set-up. This version of the C10 is built on a new 800-volt platform, allowing for DC charging at 180kW. It can recharge from 30-80 per cent in 22 minutes. The C10 appears better value on paper compared to pricier key rivals such as the Hyundai Ioniq 5, Kia EV5 and Zeekr 7X.On the inside, the car has a 14.6-inch central touchscreen and 10.25-inch digital driver display, along with synthetic leather seats. Other interior features on the special edition C10 include a panoramic glass roof, as well as electrically adjustable, heated and ventilated front seats. It gets some cosmetic changes as well, like ‘Sports+’ branded cabin mats, rear badging and side decals. The C10 Sports+ Special Edition will arrive in showrooms next month. 

I’ll tell you, if there was a time to be winning CarsGuide’s long-term lottery, now is that time. I don’t know if you’ve been following the news, but the USA appears to have declared war on cheap petrol, or something, which has sent the pump prices soaring across Australia.People are hoarding petrol like its Covid-era toilet paper, and – as I write this – the price for the cheapest E10 fuel is $2.32 per litre. A month ago, it was $1.66. Now is not the time to be running a long-term vehicle with an engine that has any kind of ‘V’ in front of it, and a diesel dual-cab would make you weep, given diesel is even more expensive (and in fact sold out in many places right now).But not I, for my long-term chariot is the humble Leapmotor C10 REEV (in Design trim, currently $47,888, drive-away), which promises to properly sip fuel, given its pocket-sized petrol engine is only used to charge the battery or to provide power to the electric motor, but never to drive the actual wheels.An EV with the backup of a petrol engine should you run out of power. Or that’s the promise, at least. But there is one catch.If you read my first dispatch, you’ll know I treated the C10 REEV's power supply like an afterthought over our first month together, topping it up when I could but not overly stressing when it was running low on power or fuel, and trusting the universe (or Leapmotor’s engineers) to get me to where I was going. My fuel use was predictably higher than you might expect, averaging a pretty ordinary 7.3L/100km of fuel. But this month I tried, really I did, to make amends.I charged the C10 more frequently, either via my home wallbox or using Australia’s surprisingly expensive DC charging infrastructure. And my fuel use… got worse. Over the past 480 kilometres, my fuel use has been 8.9L/100km. Now to be fair, I haven’t been fiddling with the drive modes, though I will this month. I've just been letting the hybrid brain do its thing, but still, that's not great.But I think I have identified the issue. See, the C10 REEV’s 28.4kWh battery is way smaller than the EV version’s 69.9kWh, and so its all-electric driving range is somewhere between 100kms and 150kms. Now that’s pretty good for a plug-in hybrid, but if you do a lot of driving – and I do – you find that the battery can be depleted pretty quickly.And then it gets weirder still. Because this is designed to drive as an EV, when the battery is depleted you find you have almost no power underfoot while the petrol engine does double duties in charging the battery and providing power to the motors. It's a weird, perhaps even dangerous, feeling, when you pull out onto a busy road and not much of anything happens. Once the battery takes on a little charge things do return to normal.If you have a home charger, and plug in with zeal, then a microscopic fuel bill will be your reward. In fact, CarsGuide reader David tells me that he is averaging 4.2L/100km using higher-octane 98RON fuel, and that a careful charging schedule sees him using even less. But if you're a bit like me, then you can expect to see numbers slightly worse than a good hybrid mid-size SUV. Elsewhere, I’m finding the Leapmotor C10 REEV a little hit and miss in places. You’ve heard my rant about the key before (which you have to tap on the wing mirror to unlock, lock and turn off the vehicle), and it’s true that the Leapmotor app is a massive improvement.But I find the proximity lock and unlock function takes a pretty laissez-faire approach to its job, working sometimes, and then simply deciding not to. And the curse that is the key card continues to haunt my life. Even with the app enabled, you still need to place the credit card-style key on the wireless charging pad to actually start the car, which kind of defeats the purpose of using the app in the first place. The air-conditioning can take ages to chill on the hottest of Sydney days, and I find the lack of buttons infuriating. The wireless charge pad is only slightly less powerful than a sun dial (my phone has gone flat while sitting on it), and it also occasionally mistakes my empty baby seat for an actual baby, and honks the horn when I try to walk away. At least I think that’s the reason, though it’s possible it just doesn’t like me.The flipside, though, is its sharp pricing, clever powertrain, ferociously generous equipment list, oodles of space, and pretty agreeable driving dynamics in town. The cabin is impressively quiet, the ride pretty comfortable, and – with the battery charged – the acceleration is plenty perky, too.It's also amazing how quickly we've gotten used to equipment that was, until recently, reserved for only the most expensive cars. My C10 Design is less than $50k on the road, and arrives with heated and ventilated front seats, a heated steering wheel, an air purifier, an integrated dashcam recorder – the list goes on.There are some quirks to iron out, though. It's onto the next month.Acquired: January 2026Distance travelled this month: 480.1kmOdometer: 8974kmAverage fuel consumption this month: 8.9L/100km

This Chinese brand isn’t making as much noise as BYD, Chery and GWM, but it is quietly building a large and competitive range.Leapmotor, which is backed by car giant Stellantis, is preparing to add a new cut-price electric small car to its range, according to filings to China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).The new small EV, dubbed A05, will target the growing cohort of electric hatchbacks led by the BYD Dolphin, MG4 and Cupra Born.Power will come from a single front mounted electric motor making either 70kW or 90kW.This will be paired with a Lithium-Ferro-Phosphate (LFP) battery of a currently unconfirmed size.The A05 will be 4200mm long, 1800mm wide, 1560mm tall with a wheelbase of 2605mm, which places it between little cars such as the Mazda2 and bigger hatchbacks such as the Mazda3.The pint-sized EV is expected to launch in fellow right-hand drive market, the UK, later this year, which leaves the door open for a future Aussie arrival.Leapmotor is expected to revealed the A05 in the coming months in China.Meanwhile, Leapmotor has been busy fleshing out its range in Australia.The brand initially launched with the C10 mid-size electric SUV, which was later joined by the range extender hybrid version of the C10. The compact B10 SUV was next to land Down Under.Leapmotor has also confirmed the B05 crossover will be the next model to come to Australia, which is expected later this year.The company has also revealed the A10 hatchback overseas, which is a slightly larger hatchback than the B05.If Leapmotor brings those models to market in the next 12 months, it will have an entrant in most the biggest passenger car segments besides the large SUV sector, which itself could potentially be occupied by the recently-revealed D16.

Japan has lost its crown as the number one source of new cars for Australia - and it could be for good.

China’s Leapmotor has detailed more on the forthcoming A10 small electric SUV ahead of its imminent launch in the domestic market.

The Leapmotor B10 Design LR is the top variant for the second model in Leapmotor’s range in Australia. The LR in its name stands for Long Range, given its larger battery compared to the base Style.

As Leapmotor looks to cement its place in the developing pantheon of new Chinese electric car brands in Australia, its second model is a statement. But there’s more to come.The 2026 Leapmotor B10 is a competitively priced small electric SUV with more space than rivals, but another Leapmotor is already confirmed on the horizon.The Leapmotor B05, an electric hatchback revealed last year at the IAA Mobility show in Munich, is set to land in Australia in the second half of 2026.While it’s a little bigger than pre-EV era hatches, the 4430mm long, 1880mm wide and 1520mm tall B05 will go up against rivals like the MG4 or GWM Ora, though pricing is yet to be determined.Given it’s smaller than the B10, it’d be surprising if its price landed too close to the roughly-$40,000 of Leapmotor’s just-arrived small SUV.While the B05 is confirmed for arrival, pricing and details aren’t locked-in, and Stellantis Australia Senior Product Manager Rick Crichton wouldn’t be drawn on rough guidelines for pricing.“No pricing,” he said, “I’m not here to talk about B05 pricing or spec, or anything other than acknowledging it’s coming.”While nothing else is locked in yet, Crichton also hinted that the smaller Leapmotor A10 was under consideration for Australia, although it’s had a name change since it was revealed.“So A10 is something that's being considered, but what I can tell you is that Leapmotor has renamed A10 to B03X for export markets.”The B03X is just 4.2m long and 1.8m wide, and in China has a claimed range of 500km under lenient CLTC testing.For its size, the B03X boasts some strong tech including LiDAR-enabled advanced driver assistance system (ADAS), an ‘AI-powered cockpit’ and over-the-air (OTA) updates.It’s expected the B03X would rival the likes of the BYD Atto 1.Finally, the Leapmotor D19, a large electric SUV, is on the radar even though Crichton said there’s nothing to confirm.“It's something that we're always looking at. Nothing we can confirm today, but certainly the product portfolio in China is continuing to expand and it certainly gives us a lot of options to pick .”Speaking with media last year, including CarsGuide, Leapmotor’s Global Head of Brand Strategy, Product and Marketing Francesco Giacalone said the D19 lines sizes up with models like the Toyota LandCruiser or Nissan Patrol."It's on architecture 3.5 with very advanced hybrid technology, based on a range-extender that has been even further evolved for that flagship. The intention is to have a full-size SUV, four-wheel drive, desert-ready."

The Leapmotor B10 Style is the entry variant for the second model in Leapmotor’s range in Australia.

The 2026 Leapmotor B10 lands in Australia promising to be the most European of its Chinese compatriots. At its local launch, we get behind the wheel in scorching south-east Queensland to find out if that holds true for this electric small SUV, and to see if the B10 can bring with it a better first impression than the already-arrived mid-size C10.