Billionaire Zhu Jiangming with a net worth of $8.5 billion is full of ambition.

Recently, on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of Leapmotor, a leading new - force car company, Zhu Jiangming, the company's founder with a net worth of 8.5 billion yuan, issued an internal letter, setting a new goal of one million vehicle sales for the company.

In the internal letter, Zhu Jiangming reviewed the achievements in 2025 and pointed out that "standing at the starting point of a new decade, from following to leading, we can no longer consider ourselves as a 'new - force' company. Instead, we should hold ourselves to the standards of a sustainable and respected world - class car company."

Leida Finance noticed that behind Zhu Jiangming's high ambitions, since March this year, Leapmotor has ranked first in monthly sales among Chinese new - force car companies for eight consecutive months. As of November 15th, Leapmotor had completed the 2025 sales target of 500,000 vehicles more than a month ahead of schedule, and the annual sales volume was close to 600,000 vehicles.

In the third quarter of this year, Leapmotor achieved an income of 19.45 billion yuan, a year - on - year increase of 97.3%; it obtained a net profit of 150 million yuan, turning losses into profits compared with the same period last year. In the first three quarters, the company's cumulative net profit reached 180 million yuan, and it is expected to achieve annual profitability.

However, in the current increasingly competitive new - energy vehicle market, it is not easy for Leapmotor to achieve "leading".

Zhu Jiangming Sets the Tone for the One - Million - Vehicle Journey

On December 24th, Leapmotor celebrated its tenth anniversary. Zhu Jiangming, the founder, chairman, and CEO of the company, announced in a heavy - weight internal letter to all employees that the sales target of Leapmotor in 2026 will be locked at one million vehicles. This also means that this new - force car company that started in Hangzhou is accelerating into a new development stage.

Zhu Jiangming pointed out in the internal letter that in 2025, the tenth year of entrepreneurship, Leapmotor completed the goals set five years ago and presented a good report card: the annual sales volume was close to 600,000 vehicles, and the company is expected to achieve annual profitability.

At the same time, Zhu Jiangming also reviewed the achievements of the company in 2025: in terms of technology, Leapmotor achieved the rapid mass production of core technologies such as the LEAP 3.5 central domain controller, 800V high - voltage platform, OneBox chassis braking system, and advanced driver assistance systems, and established a competitive self - manufacturing system for core components. "Full - scale in - house R & D" is no longer just a slogan.

In terms of products, the B10, B01, Lafa5, and the refreshed C16, C11, and C10 launched by Leapmotor this year became popular as soon as they hit the market. Among them, the monthly sales volume of the C10 reached a new high of 20,000 vehicles. In addition, the company also launched the first model D19 of the flagship D series and the first model A10 of the smart and high - quality A series.

In terms of global layout, Leapmotor quickly expanded its market share, accumulating more than 35 overseas markets and setting up more than 800 overseas stores. It is estimated that the overseas delivery volume for the whole year can exceed 60,000 vehicles.

Looking forward to the future, Zhu Jiangming said, "Standing at the starting point of a new decade, from following to leading, we can no longer consider ourselves as a 'new - force' company. Instead, we should hold ourselves to the standards of a sustainable and respected world - class car company."

It is worth noting that Leapmotor's goal of one million vehicles is not a hasty decision. Since March this year, it has ranked first in monthly sales among Chinese new - force car companies for eight consecutive months and continuously refreshed the monthly sales record of Chinese new - force car companies.

As of November 15th, Leapmotor had completed the 2025 sales target of 500,000 vehicles 45 days ahead of schedule.

Leida Finance noticed that Leapmotor's management also endorsed the company's strategic goals with real money. On December 11th, Leapmotor disclosed that Zhu Jiangming and the company's shareholder Fu Liquan jointly purchased 2.1506 million shares of the company in the market at an average price of about HK$50.51 per share, with an additional investment of more than HK$100 million.

After this additional investment, Zhu Jiangming and related parties' shareholding ratio further increased to 23.75%.

Making a Comeback as a Dark Horse among New - Force Car Companies

Zhu Jiangming, full of ambition, and Leapmotor also had a silent period.

According to Tianyancha data, the operating entity of Leapmotor, Zhejiang Leapmotor Technology Co., Ltd., was established in 2015. It is a member of Leapmotor and is located in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. It is a company mainly engaged in science and technology promotion and application services.

From 2019 to 2024, Leapmotor was in a continuous state of loss, with a total loss of 16.993 billion yuan.

In 2025, Zhu Jiangming finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel.

In the third quarter of this year, the company achieved an income of 19.45 billion yuan, a year - on - year increase of 97.3%; it obtained a net profit of 150 million yuan attributable to equity holders, turning losses into profits compared with - 690 million yuan in the same period last year. In the first three quarters, Leapmotor's cumulative net profit reached 180 million yuan.

Regarding the increase in the company's income, Leapmotor pointed out in the announcement that it was mainly due to the increase in the delivery volume of complete vehicles and spare parts, which drove the year - on - year growth of vehicle - related service income. The increase in the company's profit was due to the increase in vehicle sales volume and the change in the profit - making ability per vehicle.

In this quarter, the total delivery volume of Leapmotor was about 173,900 vehicles, a significant year - on - year increase of 101.77% and a month - on - month increase of 29.63%. Among them, the sales volume in October reached a new high again, reaching 70,300 vehicles, a 84.11% increase compared with the same period last year, making it the only new - force car company with a monthly delivery volume of more than 70,000 vehicles.

Specifically, the average monthly sales volume of the C10 in the third quarter reached 15,000 vehicles, and more than 20,000 vehicles were sold in October alone, making it the first product of Leapmotor with a monthly sales volume of more than 20,000 vehicles; the B01 had a monthly delivery volume of more than 10,000 for three consecutive months. As of October 31st, the cumulative sales volume exceeded 46,000 vehicles, achieving the excellent result of becoming a hit as soon as it was launched.

In addition, the launch of the first model D19 of the flagship D platform and the first model A10 of the A series also marks that Leapmotor is about to complete the full layout of the four major product series of A, B, C, and D, establishing a diversified product matrix covering sedans, SUVs, and MPVs.

In terms of gross profit margin, thanks to the scale effect brought about by the increase in the company's sales volume, continuous cost management, changes in the product mix, and income from other businesses, Leapmotor's gross profit margin in the third quarter increased from 8.1% in the same period in 2024 to 14.5%.

In terms of channel construction, Leapmotor relied on the "Gold and Silver Seeds" plan to cultivate high - quality investors and the "Local Strong Merchants" plan to expand the market, resulting in a 30.26% year - on - year increase in the efficiency of single stores.

As of September 30th, the company's sales and service network had covered 292 cities, a year - on - year increase of 43.14%; a total of 866 sales stores (including 367 Leapmotor Centers and 499 experience centers) and 493 service stores were established.

Leapmotor's performance in the overseas market was also very impressive. In the third quarter of this year, Leapmotor exported 17,400 vehicles, and the cumulative export volume in the first three quarters reached 37,800 vehicles, leading the way among new - force car companies in the overseas market in terms of export volume.

In the third quarter, the number of overseas vehicle registrations of Leapmotor increased by about 50% compared with the second quarter, and the number of overseas customer terminal contracts in October increased by more than 100% month - on - month.

As of September 30th, Leapmotor International had established more than 700 sales and after - sales service outlets in about 30 international markets in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia - Pacific region, including more than 650 in Europe, more than 50 in the Asia - Pacific market, and more than 30 in the South American market.

Leapmotor pointed out in its financial report that the company will accelerate the global localization layout in 2026: in the first half of the year, it will first complete the localization project in Malaysia and introduce the first model C10, and then implement the localization project in Europe by the end of the year.

Thanks to Leapmotor's performance improvement, Zhu Jiangming's net worth has also increased. In October 2025, he ranked 847th on the "Hurun Rich List 2025" with a wealth of 8.5 billion yuan.

Multiple Challenges behind the Rapid Growth

Although Leapmotor currently has strong performance, it still faces multiple real challenges in achieving the one - million - vehicle sales target in 2026.

Firstly, there is the issue of profit quality. In the first half of 2025, Leapmotor achieved semi - annual profitability for the first time, but its net profit margin was only 0.14%.

In the third quarter of this year, although the company's gross profit margin increased significantly to 14.5%, compared with some peers, Leapmotor's gross profit margin is not advantageous. For example, Li Auto's gross profit margin in the third quarter of 2025 was 16.3%. Excluding the impact of the estimated cost of the recall of the Li MEGA, the gross profit margin in the third quarter of 2025 was 20.4%.

With a relatively low profit - rate level, in order to implement the strategic goal of "full - scale in - house R & D", Leapmotor has continuously increased its R & D expenses. In 2024, Leapmotor's R & D team had 5,000 people. Recently, the size of its R & D team has exceeded 6,000 people.

The above - mentioned financial report shows that in the third quarter of this year, Leapmotor's R & D expenses were 1.21 billion yuan, a year - on - year increase of 55.4% and a month - on - month increase of 11.4%.

Not long ago, Zhu Jiangming said in an interview with the media that in 2025, Leapmotor's R & D investment will increase from more than 3 billion yuan last year to 4 - 5 billion yuan.

The continuous high - level R & D expenditure may pose a potential challenge to the company's cash flow to a certain extent.

It is worth noting that fierce market competition is another core pressure that Leapmotor needs to face.

Currently, the competition in the new - energy vehicle market has reached a white - hot stage, and Leapmotor's high - cost - performance competition strategy also faces many competitors. For example, the 2026 Geely Galaxy E5, which has been optimized and upgraded in terms of battery range, intelligent cockpit, chassis, and configuration, has become a strong competitor to Leapmotor's B10 with a price range of 109,800 - 145,800 yuan; the NIO LeDao L60 has reduced the car - purchase cost to the 150,000 - yuan level through a battery rental program, targeting the 150,000 - 200,000 - yuan family SUV market.

In addition, some market insiders believe that although Leapmotor has achieved an increase in sales volume, it has not formed a relatively significant business moat. With the policy subsidies for the purchase tax of new - energy vehicles, Leapmotor has also achieved rapid development, and setting the goal of one million vehicle sales is a predictable result. However, whether Leapmotor can truly "lead" still faces many challenges and requires efforts in many aspects such as technology, brand, and management.

This article is from the WeChat public account "Leida Finance", written by Zhou Hui and edited by Shen Hai. It is published by 36Kr with authorization.