Absent from the "New Energy Vehicles to the Countryside" initiative, Leapmotor has set its sights on overseas markets.

Can the overseas advantages in the channel sector be sustained in the long run?

Not long ago, the new energy vehicles going to rural areas campaign was launched, and the list of 155 eligible models left consumers spoilt for choice.

However, in this list, Leapmotor, which is renowned for its cost-effectiveness, did not have a single model selected this time, which is quite baffling.

After all, models priced above 200,000 yuan such as the Xiaomi SU7 and Tesla Model 3 have all been included in the new energy vehicles going to rural areas list. Why is Leapmotor, whose mainstream products are priced at around 100,000 yuan with some models even under 70,000 yuan, absent from this campaign?

Moreover, Leapmotor, which skipped the new energy vehicles going to rural areas campaign, has repeatedly seen surging sales in overseas markets. What is the reason behind this?

Against the backdrop of fierce internal competition in China's new energy vehicle market, as a rising star in the industry, how has Leapmotor quickly gained a firm foothold in overseas markets? With the support of Stellantis Group, can Leapmotor expand this advantage in the future?

Why Did Leapmotor Skip the Rural Campaign?

Why did Leapmotor not participate in the new energy vehicles going to rural areas campaign? After communicating with multiple Leapmotor employees, Pan Ge found that the reasons seem to fall into three categories:

First, it missed the registration deadline.

Leapmotor employee Ajing told Pan Ge: "The new energy vehicles going to rural areas list is not a strictly screened award list. As long as automakers submit applications, they can easily get selected."

In 2024 and 2025, Leapmotor's mainstream models at that time, including the T03, C01, C10 and C11, were all included in the new energy vehicles going to rural areas list.

This year, the mainstream models in Leapmotor's 4S stores, such as the A05, A10 and B10, are all newly launched models this year. Judging from the application schedule, it is very likely that the brand missed the registration window.

Second, the products are already easily accessible to rural consumers.

Leapmotor salesperson Chen told Pan Ge: "The new energy vehicles going to rural areas campaign aims to make it as convenient for people in township areas to buy cars as for people in cities. Leapmotor has already set up a large number of stores not far from townships, so people in township areas can easily buy Leapmotor cars even without this campaign."

Relevant data shows that by the end of 2025, Leapmotor had 993 stores in Chinese mainland, among which stores in third-tier and lower-tier cities accounted for about 53%, and county-level stores totaled 313, accounting for about 32%.

Third, the profit margin is too low to afford the campaign subsidies.

Employee Ajing told Pan Ge: "Participating in the rural campaign requires additional subsidies. Leapmotor's profit is already very low now, while other automakers still have profit margins, so of course they choose to participate in the campaign."

It can be seen that different from many new energy vehicle brands whose biggest pain point is insufficient sales, Leapmotor boasts decent sales but its profit margin is shrinking.

In the first half of 2026, Leapmotor delivered a total of 356,500 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 60.8%, of which 93,000 units were delivered in June, representing a year-on-year increase of 95%.

However, its financial report shows that in the first quarter of 2026, Leapmotor achieved revenue of 108.2 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8%, while its quarterly loss reached 3.9 billion yuan, three times that of the same period last year. The curse of rising revenue without rising profits has fallen on Leapmotor this time.

Seeking Opportunities Overseas?

With its auto products selling better and better, why is Leapmotor's profit declining instead?

This may be because its extreme cost-effectiveness sales strategy, especially the strong sales of the A10 series, has compressed Leapmotor's profit margin.

Financial report shows that in the first quarter of 2026, Leapmotor's gross margin was 9.4%, down 5.6 percentage points from 15% in the fourth quarter of 2025.

Moreover, the increase in R&D and other related expenses has also brought pressure to its cost side.

In the first quarter of 2026, Leapmotor's R&D expenditure reached 10.4 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of over 30%, accounting for about 9.6% of its total revenue, up 1.6 percentage points from the same period last year.

From initially exploring the market by learning from Li Auto to now being regarded as the Uniqlo in the automotive industry, Leapmotor, relying on the strategy of small profits but quick turnover, has seen increasingly impressive sales data, but its operating pressure is also growing.

How to find its own way out in the fiercely competitive new energy vehicle market has become a problem that Leapmotor needs to consider. To this end, Leapmotor seems to have set its sights on overseas markets.

In the first quarter of 2026, Leapmotor exported 40,901 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 442%, accounting for 37.1% of its total sales. In 2025, Leapmotor's total annual export volume was only 67,052 vehicles.

In March 2026, Leapmotor registered more than 11,000 vehicles in the European market, a year-on-year increase of 754%. Among them, 5,513 units were registered in the Italian market, a year-on-year increase of 2827%. In Italy's pure electric vehicle market, Leapmotor ranks at the leading position with a 33.5% market share.

Nowadays, new energy automakers are all seeking to expand overseas, but a series of problems such as establishing sales outlets and distribution systems often delay the overseas expansion progress of these automakers.

As a rising star in the new energy vehicle industry, why has Leapmotor achieved explosive sales in overseas markets in a short period of time? The core reason seems to be that it has found the right partner.

In October 2023, Stellantis Group from Europe acquired about 21% of Leapmotor's shares, becoming its single largest shareholder. The two parties established a joint venture called Leapmotor International, in which Stellantis Group holds 51% of the shares and is responsible for Leapmotor's overseas sales related business.

Relying on Stellantis's sales network, Leapmotor has entered more than 40 overseas markets and over 1,000 overseas stores, successfully promoting its products to the world.

However, with its surging overseas sales, has Leapmotor achieved higher profits?

Take the Leapmotor C10 as an example. Its selling price in the EU market is about 39,000 euros, equivalent to about 300,000 yuan, while the same model in the Chinese market is priced at about 150,000 yuan, twice as expensive as the domestic version.

Apart from the costs of sea transportation and distribution of vehicles, Chinese vehicles that want to enter the EU market also need to pay a tariff of up to 45.3%. Calculated in this way, Leapmotor's profit margin is not large either.

In addition to importing complete vehicles, the cooperation between Leapmotor and Stellantis seems to have new forms. The CEO of Opel, a brand under Stellantis Group, recently stated that Opel will jointly develop an SUV with Leapmotor, which is planned to be put into production at a factory in Spain in 2028.

Is the Overseas Expansion Path All Smooth Sailing?

In this case, relying on the cooperation with Stellantis, Leapmotor seems to have great advantages in its overseas automotive expansion.

However, Leapmotor in overseas markets is also facing some problems that restrict its sales and reputation.

First, there are too many restrictions on in-vehicle infotainment systems and intelligent driving in the European market, which has weakened Leapmotor's advantages.

Xiaoye, an international student in Germany who owns a Leapmotor T03, told Pan Ge: "BYD Dolphin is better than this Leapmotor T03 in terms of workmanship and power performance, but Leapmotor is much more cost-effective."

At the same time, Xiaoye also said: "German law prohibits screen projection while driving, so the screen projection function will be automatically locked after the car is started, and the in-vehicle interconnection cannot be used at all. But offline navigation is available, though it is not as good as Google's real-time navigation. The in-vehicle music playback function is also acceptable."

A Xiang bought a Leapmotor C10 at a Stellantis store in Italy. He told Pan Ge: "BYD sells very well in Italy, and Chery and MG are also doing well. Even many Chinese people in Italy do not know that Leapmotor vehicles are made in China."

Regarding the vehicle usage experience, A Xiang said: "This car is very cost-effective locally. The only downside is that it does not support Carplay. In addition, the in-vehicle system has too many restrictions in the EU, which is not very convenient. At present, only LCC (Lane Centering Control) function of intelligent driving is available. Screen projection is allowed when driving in Italy, but it is not very user-friendly. Sometimes when I reply to a message on my mobile phone, the map navigation will disappear."

Second, in some markets outside Europe, Leapmotor's distribution system is still very chaotic, which also restricts its sales growth.

For example, Leapmotor in Malaysia adopts a model where Stellantis and other co-dealers coexist, but this model can easily lead to cut-throat competition.

Xiaoliang, a Chinese Malaysian, told Pan Ge: "I once took a fancy to the Leapmotor C10. Because some other stores offered larger discounts, the salesperson I contacted at first said that those stores with super low discounts might not be able to provide proper after-sales services. In the end, I delayed the purchase and chose another brand."

On the other side, A Mei, who is also in Malaysia, also said that Leapmotor is not well-known in Malaysia. She learned about this brand from an automotive blogger's introduction online and then placed an order.

Previously, an Australian netizen was recommended by his Chinese friend to look for a Leapmotor 4S store locally. After he finally found the store, he saw a notice on the door: Please go to the BYD store next door to contact the salesperson.

He went to the BYD store next door and told the salesperson that he wanted to test drive a Leapmotor B10. However, during the test drive, he found that the salesperson knew very little about Leapmotor, but was very familiar with BYD's products.

From the above cases, we can see that although Leapmotor has achieved remarkable results in overseas markets, this success relies more on Stellantis's distribution network rather than the core competitiveness of its own products.

In the future, when domestic new energy vehicle brands such as BYD, Chery and Geely have established complete distribution networks in overseas markets one after another, what cards can Leapmotor play against these domestic competitors?

This article is from the WeChat official account "Zinc Consumption Research Center", written by Pan Ge, and published with authorization from 36Kr.