We used to chuckle at how dangerous Chinese language automobiles had been 10 or 15 years in the past. They had been a continuing matter of ridicule on Western auto websites and reveals. We watched these crash assessments that confirmed automobiles’ buildings collapsing like an accordion, and, on the time, we by no means thought Chinese language automobiles can be any good. Boy, how issues have modified.

Now, Western automakers want to Chinese language producers for inspiration and assist. There is not any higher instance of this than the Leapmotor T03, a tiny Chinese language metropolis automotive aimed on the Dacia Spring. Whereas Leapmotor has solely existed since 2015, it designed the T03 absolutely in home, and produces the battery pack itself. The result’s an affordable, cheerful, spectacular EV. It is so good, in reality, that one of many largest Western automakers has determined to purchase in. 

Little Leapmotor made Stellantis—a serious European-based automotive conglomerate with over a dozen automotive manufacturers underneath its belt—admit defeat. Like many Western automakers, Stellantis acknowledges that it will possibly’t compete with Chinese language manufacturers on value. As an alternative of making an attempt to beat them, Stellantis entered a three way partnership with Leapmotor to permit it to provide Chinese language automobiles in Europe, permitting it to avoid hefty import duties.

Stellantis invested $1.5 billion within the firm, giving it a 20% stake in Leapmotor. Maybe extra importantly, it has a 51% stake in Leapmotor Worldwide, the export facet of the enterprise. The corporate plans to export automobiles around the globe, and even construct the TO3 at a manufacturing facility in Poland. Stellantis just isn’t the one automaker that has teamed with a Chinese language companion, however it’s the first to deliver a Chinese language automotive and assemble it in Europe.

After I requested the native Leapmotor importer right here in Romania about the place my T03 press tester was manufactured, they stated it probably got here from China. Nevertheless, Leapmotor formally started European manufacturing in a Stellantis manufacturing facility in Poland in September of 2024. That plant will make each the T03 metropolis EV and a bigger battery-powered SUV known as the B10, each of that are already on sale all through Europe.

That is a formidable little automotive, particularly when you understand the whole story behind it, and it was for me an actual eye opener since I’ve not had the possibility to drive that many new Chinese language automobiles. If this small EV from a small, fledgling Chinese language automaker is that this good and there are automakers from the Folks’s Republic with much more assets and know-how, this can be a signal that the worldwide auto business is being turned on its head.

How Massive Is It?

Photograph by: InsideEVs/Andrei Nedelea

Photograph by: InsideEVs/Andrei Nedelea

Measuring simply 142.5 inches (3.62 meters) in size and 65 inches (1.59 m) large, the T03 is about two ft shorter than a Chevrolet Bolt EV and a bit narrower too. This provides it barely uncommon proportions—it seems a bit tall and slender—however this makes the automotive very straightforward to maneuver in tight city areas, and the inside is surprisingly roomy given its footprint. 

With the driving force’s seat set to my driving place (I’m about six ft tall), I had nearly sufficient knee room to not really feel trapped. My head did contact the headliner within the again seats, although, so touring again there would get tiresome after half an hour. Nonetheless, two barely shorter passengers may journey for longer at the back of a T03 in relative consolation.

Though it’s a barely larger car with an extended wheelbase than its predominant rival right here in Europe, the Dacia Spring, the T03 allocates extra of its inside room for passengers, and it has a really small trunk. It provides simply 7.4 cubic ft of cargo area, and the maintain seems fairly tiny. However you’ll be able to simply suit your weekly procuring in there. You may also fold the rear seat to liberate 31 cubic ft for while you sometimes want additional area.

Does It Look Good?

Photograph by: InsideEVs/Andrei Nedelea

Photograph by: InsideEVs/Andrei Nedelea

Though the T03 debuted final yr in Europe, it was launched in China virtually 5 years in the past and hasn’t been restyled since. It’s beginning to look a bit dated in comparison with rivals just like the way more rakish BYD Seagull, which can come to Europe in 2025 and price about the identical.

The T03 has a cute face that jogged my memory of one of many pig characters from the cellular recreation Offended Birds. It seems very upright and tall from the entrance, however if you happen to transfer extra to the facet of the car, you see that its roofline subtly dips towards the rear. The most effective praise I may pay the rear finish is that it matches the design of the entrance very properly.

It rides on 15-inch wheels with tall and slender 165/65 tires, which surprisingly don’t look too small for the physique. They’re additionally fairly inset, and this makes the automotive look a bit ungainly. Throughout my time with the automotive, I saved considering that with some bigger wheels that fill the arches higher the T03 may look so much higher.

What’s It Like To Drive?

Photograph by: InsideEVs/Andrei Nedelea

Photograph by: InsideEVs/Andrei Nedelea

With its comparatively slender monitor width and tall physique, you’d suppose the T03 wouldn’t be too at residence taking a nook briskly. This was one of many first issues I attempted with the automotive, and I used to be stunned to find that even pushing it right into a nook, it by no means felt prefer it was going to topple over—removed from it, truly.

The steering, whereas not very fast when it comes to ratio, supplied extra really feel than I used to be anticipating, and I may really feel when the entrance finish grip was about to expire. Sudden path adjustments additionally did not faze it, even when there was a little bit of physique lean. Driving this automotive, I used to be reminded simply how way more steady EVs typically really feel with a stomach stuffed with batteries protecting the middle of gravity low.

It helps that the T03 may be very gentle by electrical automotive requirements, weighing in at 2,590 kilos (1,175 kilograms). That’s lots of of kilos lower than a GMC Hummer EV’s battery pack. The good thing about this low mass may be very nimble dealing with and a sense of agility that you just don’t get from many EVs.

Photograph by: InsideEVs

The T03 will get its oomph from a single motor driving the entrance wheels. It produces 95 horsepower and 116 pound-feet (158 Nm) of torque and propels the T03 to 62 mph (100 kph) in 12.7 seconds, on to a prime velocity of 81 mph (130 kph). It feels a lot faster than the Dacia Spring, and it pulls higher than you count on given the leisurely on-paper dash time.

It stops properly too, with disk brakes on all 4 corners. I did discover that if you happen to flip the steering wheel whereas underneath braking, the automotive appears unsettled, however the stability management program retains issues in test.

The three driving modes (Eco, Consolation and Sport) not solely have an effect on pedal mapping and energy supply, however additionally they change the power of the regenerative braking. You don’t have any different method of controlling it, so if you need a sure regen really feel, you should keep on with the mode that provides it. In any of the modes, regen by no means feels notably sturdy—I wouldn’t name this a one-pedal EV.

Does It Have Toys?

Photograph by: InsideEVs/Andrei Nedelea

Photograph by: InsideEVs/Andrei Nedelea

Surprisingly for a automotive this low-cost, the T03 comes with many customary options. You get a big panoramic glass roof (with an electrical retractable sunshade) and a collection of ADAS capabilities (mandated by EU legislation for all new autos), together with adaptive cruise management, autonomous emergency braking, ahead collision warning, lane maintain help and velocity restrict recognition. It even has a drowsiness-detecting digital camera pointed at your face always.

Whereas all the ADAS techniques appear to work, they’re all a bit intrusive and annoying, every with its personal chime that will get in your nerve after driving the automotive for some time. Listening to all of the beeps earlier than turning the security techniques off by going via every particular person setting within the infotainment was most likely the worst a part of the T03 driving expertise.

Bluetooth connectivity is customary however with out Apple CarPlay or Android Auto help. This is the reason my take a look at automotive got here with an aftermarket head unit, which may mirror your cellphone, nevertheless it’s not obligatory given the ten.1-inch infotainment show. Its graphics look a tad pixelated however have a logical Tesla-inspired menu construction, and it typically works fairly properly.

Photograph by: InsideEVs/Andrei Nedelea

One can find your self utilizing the central display so much on this automotive: You employ it to alter driving modes, change local weather settings, activate the lights manually or alter anything since there aren’t any bodily controls. I used it most frequently to show off the audible velocity restrict warning sound, which is remitted on all new automobiles offered within the European Union, and it’s completely infuriating.

Most producers supply a straightforward shortcut to disable this method, however you should undergo all of the menus each time to do it within the T03. The driving force will get a good 8-inch show, which does the job with out standing out. The automotive has its personal 4G web connection, which makes it appropriate with over-the-air updates and runs the navigation app with out requiring your cellphone to be related.

You get rake adjustment for the steering wheel and seats coated in what felt like a surprisingly high-quality material materials. The seats look good too, and so they supply a lot better lateral help than the seats within the Dacia Spring.

How A lot Vary Does It Have?

Photograph by: InsideEVs/Andrei Nedelea

With a 37.3 kilowatt-hour battery, the T03 is rated for 165 miles (265 km) of WLTP vary. That cycle is mostly extra optimistic than the U.S’ EPA figures. After I acquired the automotive, the battery was 99% full and displayed an estimated vary of 116 miles (187 km). That’s fairly respectable for an electrical metropolis runabout, and it’d probably get nearer to the WLTP estimate on a hotter day.

Leapmotor factors to the claimed city driving vary as being a lot greater than in combined driving. The city WLTP score goes as much as 245 miles (394 km), though even with the lightest proper foot and excellent circumstances, this looks like a stretch for a car with a sub-40-kWh battery pack.

Not like the Dacia Spring, which has an air-cooled battery pack, the Leapmotor actively controls its battery pack temperature. That ought to assist the battery last more, as air-cooled packs are likely to wrestle when uncovered to excessive temperature. However it would not have a warmth pump, which is unhappy if unsurprising for an inexpensive EV. The vary estimate additionally doesn’t change in actual time while you activate cabin heating prefer it does in most different EVs, nevertheless it adjusts as you drive round.

Photograph by: InsideEVs/Andrei Nedelea

Not like the Dacia, the Leapmotor consists of fast-charging functionality standar. The T03 can replenish its battery at as much as 48 kW, which is sweet for a ten to 80% cost in 55 minutes. It’s not even shut to creating the listing of EVs with the best charging energy, however since most consumers will most likely plug in at residence more often than not, utilizing the automotive’s 7.4 kW onboard charger, it ought to be advantageous.

Driving the T03 principally round city, its displayed effectivity quantity acquired very shut to five miles/kWh, which is fairly good, though it’s a bit much less environment friendly than a Spring. In case you drive it gingerly on the town, you possibly can most likely get it to exceed that determine.

Is It Good Worth?

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InsideEVs/Andrei Nedelea

The Leapmotor T03 prices €20,000 ($20,830) right here in Romania, which is about the identical as in different European Union international locations and twice what it prices in China. The precise value consumers pay drops to €15,000 if you happen to issue within the €5,000 you get from the Romanian authorities, and comparable EV incentive schemes exist in lots of EU international locations, serving to spur EV gross sales. The motivation was €10,000 or as much as half of the car’s worth in Romania, nevertheless it was capped at €5,000 in 2024, following the latest European pattern to scale back or eradicate these incentives altogether.

Leapmotor has a take care of Stellantis, which permits it to assemble the T03 in Europe. The automotive I drove got here from China, however Leapmotor needs to construct its automobiles within the EU to keep away from paying the hefty import duties that had been put in place final yr. Which will partially clarify why it is a lot costlier right here than it’s in China.

The producer introduced in January that its autos had been on sale via 400 Stellantis retailers in Europe, and it deliberate to extend that to 500 in 2025. Though it went on sale right here in September of final yr, I haven’t seen any T03s on the highway within the space the place I reside, though I’ve seen fairly a number of model new Dacia Springs.

For the reason that T03 is costlier than the Spring (which is offered as Dacia, a Romanian model), it most likely gained’t match its recognition right here. Nevertheless, it’s a barely fancier automotive with extra efficiency and vary. It’s arguably a greater EV than the Spring, and the worth distinction is justified. I feel they need to have known as it one thing catchier than T03, although. The identify just isn’t particularly memorable, and it additionally wants a facelift because it seems a bit old style parked subsequent to a brand new Spring or a few of its different rivals.

Nonetheless, the TO3 reveals simply how far Chinese language automakers have come. A decade in the past, nobody would think about importing a Chinese language automotive. However today, a model like Leapmotor—not even considered one of China’s greatest names—can do one thing Stellantis cannot handle by itself. Whereas it will not be as engaging because the Spring, the T03 is a greater EV, and additional proof that Western automakers cannot afford to disregard Chinese language rivals. And if they can not beat them one on one, teaming up could also be a greater path.