Leapmotor vows to be in the first echelon of intelligent driving next year, leaving car owners confused...

Recently, a senior vice president of Leapmotor made some bold claims, saying that the company would reach the first - tier level in assisted driving in the first half of next year, which sparked ridicule from many car owners.

In their eyes, Leapmotor's intelligent driving function is "too stupid" and "unreliable". Some car owners said that the intelligent driving system malfunctioned twice within 12 days after taking delivery of the car. Others reported that when they tried the automatic parking function occasionally, the car hit a pillar. Some car owners even revealed that during test drives, salespeople directly advised them to "use it with caution".

In response to the car owners' complaints, the "Next - Generation Car Research Institute" column interviewed a Leapmotor salesperson. The salesperson did not deny the problems and admitted that "the urban commuting navigation function has just been launched. Compared with well - established enterprises, there are indeed some gaps, but there will definitely be improvements and upgrades in the future."

Meanwhile, Leapmotor also plans to launch models priced at 300,000 yuan. Car owners are even more confused and think the company is "getting ahead of itself". According to the first - half financial report, the average price per vehicle is only 109,000 yuan. With Leapmotor's current brand influence and intelligent driving level, it may be difficult to support such high - end models.

In addition, Zhu Jiangming, the chairman of Leapmotor, also set a goal of selling one million vehicles annually next year. However, the goal of selling 800,000 vehicles in 2025 that he set in 2021 seems unattainable at present.

"Malfunctioned twice within 12 days after taking delivery"

A Leapmotor owner posted that he placed an order for the 510 lidar version of the Leapmotor B10 in April this year and took delivery of the car in May. Usually, getting a new car is a happy event, but the intelligent driving system of his new car malfunctioned twice within 12 days.

He said that the first malfunction occurred 7 days after taking delivery. After the car drove out of the parking lot, it suddenly failed to recognize pedestrians and roads. The turning camera also had no video signal, so he couldn't see pedestrians and vehicles on the side of the car, which seriously affected driving safety. Five days later, the intelligent driving system malfunctioned again. When the car recognized the reflective cones at the highway exit, functions such as cruise control, lane - keeping, and intelligent navigation all failed to work.

"This really scares me! It's like using users as guinea pigs for experiments!" he complained. After reporting the intelligent driving malfunctions to Leapmotor's after - sales service, the after - sales staff said it was a software problem and asked him to wait for the software to be automatically updated.

In addition to the intelligent driving malfunctions, some car owners also complained that the automatic parking function of Leapmotor is "unreliable". He said that he rarely used the automatic parking function. Once he tried it, the car directly hit a pillar. After reporting the problem to the 4S store, the staff said that the repair would cost about 10,000 yuan, but since it is an auxiliary parking function, the user has to claim insurance by themselves.

In response to the complaints of Leapmotor owners, some netizens left comments, saying, "They are really bold. The salesperson has already said it's unreliable and to use it with caution." "When I asked if I could try the automatic parking function during a test drive of the Leapmotor B10, the salesperson said not to try it as it's not safe."

When the "Next - Generation Car Research Institute" column consulted a Leapmotor salesperson about the intelligent driving issues, she did not deny the problems that car owners had complained about. She admitted that "our urban commuting navigation function has just been launched. Compared with well - established enterprises, there are indeed some gaps, but there will definitely be improvements and upgrades in the future." She said that Leapmotor's intelligent driving system has been improving and will be gradually upgraded through OTA.

At the 2025 Chengdu Auto Show, Cao Li, a senior vice president of Leapmotor, boldly claimed that Leapmotor will reach the first - tier level in assisted driving in the first half of next year, which forms a sharp contrast with the complaints of car owners. It's worth noting that at the 2024 Guangzhou Auto Show, Cao Li also said that "we strive to reach the first - tier level next year (2025)."

Year after year, Leapmotor's intelligent driving level still lags behind.

Average price is only 110,000 yuan. Is it going to target the 300,000 - yuan market?

Leapmotor has always been regarded as a second - tier new energy vehicle brand.

This year, Leapmotor has witnessed rapid sales growth. In August this year, Leapmotor delivered 57,066 vehicles, a year - on - year increase of over 88%. In terms of the sales ranking of new energy vehicle brands, Leapmotor surpassed first - tier brands such as Hongmeng Zhixing, XPeng, NIO, and Li Auto and ranked first.

However, Leapmotor's sales are driven by cost - effective models, and most of its products are priced between 100,000 and 200,000 yuan. Currently, Leapmotor's product line mainly includes sedans in the B series and SUVs in the C series. There is also the low - cost and high - volume small car T03, as well as the newly unveiled sports sedan Lafa5.

It's worth noting that the starting price of the currently available T03 is only 59,900 yuan. The price of the Lafa5 unveiled at the Munich Auto Show won't be too high either. Zhu Jiangming, the founder, chairman, and CEO of Leapmotor, revealed that since the Lafa5 has a higher configuration than existing models such as the B10 (priced from 99,800 to 129,800 yuan) and the B01 (priced from 89,800 to 119,800 yuan), the price may be slightly higher. The outside world expects that the price of the Lafa5 will be in the 100,000 - yuan range.

At present, although Leapmotor's sales have increased, it's difficult for the average price per vehicle to rise significantly in the short term, and users still perceive it as a mid - to - low - end brand.

Based on the revenue of 24.25 billion yuan and the sales volume of 221,664 vehicles in the first half of this year, the average price per vehicle is only 109,000 yuan. In contrast, the average price per vehicle of XPeng is 172,800 yuan, NIO is 271,800 yuan, and Li Auto is 275,300 yuan, showing an obvious gap.

In the eyes of the outside world, Leapmotor is even ridiculed as the "half - price Li Auto". Judging from the average price per vehicle in the first half of this year, it's not even half of Li Auto's average price.

However, Leapmotor is clearly not satisfied with this. Zhu Jiangming previously revealed in an interview that Leapmotor will have four series, A, B, C, and D, in the next three years, with about 13 or 14 models covering the market from 60,000 to 300,000 yuan. Cao Li, a senior vice president of Leapmotor, revealed that the new SUV in the D series is Leapmotor's first flagship product targeting the 300,000 - yuan market. Positioned as a full - size SUV, it will be equipped with the most advanced technologies in Leapmotor and even the entire industry and won't be the so - called "half - price Li Auto" as the outside world says. Currently, the new car has entered the summer testing stage.

However, with Leapmotor's current brand influence, average price per vehicle, and intelligent driving level, it will be a huge challenge to target the 300,000 - yuan market segment.

Will Zhu Jiangming's annual sales target fall through?

With the sales growth, Leapmotor is considered by the outside world to be "getting ahead of itself".

Recently, Xu Jun, the COO of Leapmotor, posted on Weibo after the release of the semi - annual report, saying, "There are only two tiers among new energy vehicle brands: those that are profitable and those that are not. By optimizing costs through economies of scale and achieving sustainable development through a virtuous cycle, Leapmotor strives to firmly stand in the first tier."

This statement has sparked a lot of controversy.

"They are starting to be proud. This kind of attitude won't lead to long - term success." "At this stage, the company should strengthen its foundation, accumulate resources, and be more low - key. It doesn't have the strength to compete with other brands yet. Making such statements will only create more enemies. It is recommended that Leapmotor continue to maintain a low - key and practical style." Many netizens left comments under his Weibo post.

According to Leapmotor's first - half financial report this year, the operating revenue was 24.25 billion yuan, a year - on - year increase of 174.1%; 221,664 new vehicles were delivered, a year - on - year increase of 155.7%. At the same time, the company achieved a turnaround from losses to profits and became the second new energy vehicle brand to achieve semi - annual profitability.

However, judging from the profit scale in the first half of this year, it's not very ideal. The net profit is only 33 million yuan, which can be regarded as barely profitable.

In addition, after achieving profitability, Leapmotor has set an even more astonishing sales target. Cao Li, a senior vice president of Leapmotor, said in an interview that when all the models in the A, B, C, and D series achieve the expected sales volume, Leapmotor will be able to reach the annual sales target of one million vehicles. He analyzed by vehicle series: the B and C series are the main sales forces and must achieve monthly sales of over 40,000 units each. The A and D series should sell 30,000 - 40,000 units. "According to this ratio, after all our models are launched, the sales volume will exceed one million units."

At the Munich Auto Show, when Zhu Jiangming, the founder, chairman, and CEO of Leapmotor, was asked about the sales forecast, he said that the sales volume in the domestic market will double next year, and the overseas market will at least double. The key node of monthly sales of 100,000 vehicles will appear next year. He even set a more long - term goal: to become a mainstream global automaker, the threshold is to sell four million vehicles annually. He said that four million units was originally the threshold for fuel - powered vehicles, and in the future, the concentration of electric vehicles may be even higher than that of fuel - powered vehicles.

The "Next - Generation Car Research Institute" column found that Leapmotor sold 293,700 vehicles in 2024, and recently Leapmotor raised its annual sales target for 2025 to 580,000 - 650,000 vehicles, which means that the maximum sales growth rate this year will reach 121.31%. It's worth noting that in 2021, Zhu Jiangming also set a goal of selling 800,000 vehicles in 2025. Judging from Leapmotor's latest sales target, the goal of 800,000 vehicles is obviously unattainable.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Sina Technology". Author: Zhang Jun. Republished by 36Kr with permission.