In South Africa soon? Stellantis backed Leapmotor going global

A joint venture by Stellantis and Chinese electric vehicle start-up Leapmotor will start shipping cars to Europe in September, executives said on Tuesday.

Chinese automakers are pushing ahead with expansion plans in Europe despite mounting political pushback on the continent.

Leapmotor only produces electric vehicles and is relatively unknown in Europe, despite selling 10 000 cars a month in China.

Stellantis is one of the world’s largest carmakers, owning popular brands including Alfa Romeo and Jeep.

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The companies launched a joint venture, Leapmotor International, on Tuesday, after the Netherlands-based Stellantis agreed in October to buy a 20% stake in the Chinese firm.

The joint venture “enables us to accelerate the wait to go to market with smart and affordable EVs”, Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said on Tuesday at a joint press conference hosted by both companies in Leapmotor’s home city of Hangzhou.

“We are going to be able to bring faster to our markets affordable EVs that will not only contribute to the profitable growth” of the two companies but “will contribute faster and in a more efficient way to fixing the global warming issue that we have to fix as humanity,” Tavares said.

Leapmotor International will start shipping cars to nine European countries including France and Germany in September, the executives said.

The vehicles will then be rolled out in the Middle East, Africa, India, the Asia-Pacific and South America later in the year.

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