Leapmotor is expanding more and more in Europe thanks to its valuable joint venture with Stellantis. In fact, orders have also recently opened for the C10 and T03 cars. The latter, has even been placed on the market with a starting price of 20,000 euros (about $21,900). Despite the good placement, it seems the situation is getting difficult, especially in France. In fact, the previous importer has decided to open a lawsuit against Stellantis. A situation that could complicate an already quite competitive and growing market.
Lawsuit against Stellantis
As we know, Leapmotor and Stellantis have formed a fast joint venture together, currently named Leapmotor International. This collaboration aims to control the marketing of electric vehicles coming from Asia. Just a few months ago, deliveries of the new vehicles began in Europe. The initial distribution markets, however, are not only in France, but also in many other countries on the continent, such as Germany, Belgium, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
Just with regard to the French market, it has been reported by the famous French portal Automobil Propre, that a lawsuit against Stellantis opened by Didier Sirgue, head of SN Diffusion and EVE (Espace Véhicules Électrique), would be in progress. He, in fact, had in the past been responsible for the distribution in France of the T03 model of. Before finally relying on Stellantis, Leapmotor attempted to expand vehicle distribution through importers in other countries, with whom it currently no longer appears to be working.
Sirgue’s reasons for the lawsuit
Didier Sirgue claims that the contract entered into as an import for Leapmotor was not supposed to end until January 15 next year. Instead, it was terminated on May 1 of the current year without any kind of notice. Sources say the real problems began in October 2023. In fact, last year, Stellantis acquired 21 percent of Leapmotor and announced that it would market Chinese models using its own distribution network. Precisely because of this, now the French importer has decided to take this situation to court.
With the start of the fourth quarter of this year, which has just begun, Leapmotor International also plans to expand its sales to markets such as those in the Middle East and Africa, including Israel and the French overseas countries. So many of the latter are in the Asia-Pacific region and include important nations such as New Zealand, Australia, Thailand, Malaysia and Nepal. As for the South American market, on the other hand, Leapmotor has decided to focus more on Brazil and Chile.
According to early Indiscretions, the first Leapmotor EV vehicles would arrive from China to Germany by sea. Continuing this collaboration, it appears that the choice will fall on producing the cars in Europe and no longer in China. In fact, as far as the T03 model is concerned, it has already been decided that its production will move to the Stellantis plant in Poland, namely Tychy. For the C10 model, on the other hand, the production location decision has yet to be made.