It is difficult to see such triple-digit percentages in the data of Italian startups: the Chinese Leapmotor has just certified that exports have grown by 442% with almost 1,000 points of sale abroad. The credit, of course, goes to the JV with Stellantis, which took it on board to carry it to the rest of the world, mainly in Europe and South America since the USA, as is known, intends to exclude any made-in-China car from its roads. But what volumes are we talking about?
LEAPMOTOR’S RAMPANT EXPORT
Last week the Italian-French Group announced that it intends to further strengthen the partnership with the Chinese manufacturer of the funny “clone” (to use the words of Ansa) of the electric 500. In this way Antonio Filosa confirmed that the alliance with the Chinese signed during the time of former CEO Carlos Tavares is one of the few strategic moves from the last season that the current CEO intends to preserve.
So it is urgent to briefly recap: in October 2023, Stellantis became the single largest shareholder of Leapmotor with about 21%, launching together with the Asian company Leapmotor International, a joint venture in which the Europeans hold the majority 51% and the Chinese the remaining 49% to secure exclusive rights for the sale and production of its electric cars outside Chinese borders.
OPEN DOORS (OF STELLANTIS HUBS) IN SPAIN
With the new acceleration just announced by Filosa, “production at the Stellantis plant in Figueruelas” in Zaragoza, Spain, will “significantly increase,” where the parties are considering adding a new line for the production of the Opel C-SUV BEV model scheduled for 2028. Leapmotor would bring production of its B10 model to the plant, potentially starting as early as 2026.
Moreover, at the Villaverde plant in Madrid, currently working on the Citroen C4, another model by the startup founded and led by Zhu Jiangming could be assembled, expected to be ready by the first half of 2028 when the French car goes out of production, thus ensuring continuity to a hub currently lacking certainty.
Finally, the European manufacturer informs that “ownership of the site is under discussion for a potential transfer to the Spanish subsidiary of Leapmotor International.” If so, the factory would still remain in Stellantis’ portfolio, but 49 percent would go to the JV counterpart, Leapmotor.
THE RACE IN LEAPMOTOR EXPORTS THANKS TO STELLANTIS
So far, however, Leapmotor has not assembled vehicles in Europe, limiting itself to exporting them by ship, also leveraging the logistics partnership with the Grimaldi group which has provided its huge ships Grande Svezia, Grande Michigan, Grande Istanbul, and Grande Tianjin, while on land the Asian startup has relied on Stellantis’ widespread distribution network with a total of 850 sales and service points and over 40,000 deliveries in Europe in 2025.
Only “in the first three months of 2026 – writes Quattroruote – 15 trips have already been made, with stops at eight European ports – Antwerp, Portbury, Valencia, Vigo, Setúbal, Livorno, Civitavecchia, and Gioia Tauro – with peaks of over 5,400 units per stop.” While broadening the view to the “last 18 months, the collaboration between” Leapmotor and Grimaldi “has already allowed the delivery of almost 100,000 vehicles coming from China, of which 20,000 were destined for the Italian market in the first quarter of 2026.”
A FIRST RESULT
A first result of this very massive operation was captured by another specialized publication, Al Volante, which a couple of weeks ago, as usual, scrutinizing the sales rankings of the Italian market, jumped: “Best-selling cars in April 2026: the Leapmotor surprise shakes up the rankings.” Then it detailed: “The Leapmotor T03 rises to fourth place with 14,839 registrations, surpassing the Citroën C3 (14,306).”
A LOOK AT THE NUMBERS
As for Leapmotor’s latest quarterly report, revenue grew by 8% year-on-year to 10.8 billion yuan, driven precisely by the increase in vehicle deliveries: 110,000 units of which 70,000 in April alone (a brand record). Limiting to Q1, international sales exceeded 40,000 units, an increase of 42% compared to the previous year.
However, the gross profit margin recorded a significant drop to 16%, compared to 25.9% in the same period of 2025, attributed to changes in product mix and difficulties related to production scale. The Chinese startup’s goal is still ambitious, considering the sector’s crisis and the boldness of rivals (from BYD to Geely to Xiaomi): the young company aims to reach as much as 5 billion for the entire year 2026. A goal that Leapmotor believes it can achieve precisely thanks to the partnership with Stellantis which gives it an edge over compatriots who have to build their distribution chain from scratch in the rest of the world.
All this happens while more and more observers remain skeptical about similar partnerships, considered even dangerous (refer to the proverbial and evocative image of introducing the fox into the henhouse). But, above all, this happens while in the USA the legislature is moving forward with bipartisan proposals to further lock down the domestic market to made-in-China cars and, surprisingly, Stellantis is among the most convinced supporters of these further protectionist initiatives.
