Back in August, Chinese EV maker Leapmotor announced that it’s entered an agreement with VW through which the German car maker will license the Leap 3.0 EV platform for its Jetta joint-venture (with FAW) sub-brand in China. And now it looks like we might be on the verge of another such big announcement for Leapmotor.
According to a new rumor out of China, which supposedly comes from not one, not two, but three “sources familiar with the matter”, Stellantis is very close to sealing an investment agreement with Leapmotor, through which the global giant would invest in the Chinese automaker. In exchange, Stellantis would receive a license to use Leapmotor’s Leap 3.0 EREV platform.
The Leap 3.0 platform was announced in July, and the first car underpinned by it is Leapmotor’s own C10, which got its international debut at IAA Mobility in Munich last month. Leap 3.0 supports both EVs and EREVs. Leapmotor itself is planning to launch four more vehicles based on this platform in the next two years. Leapmotor CEO Zhu Jiangming said during the Leap 3.0 launch that the company actively wants to license its platform to other car makers, and it seems like this is already happening at an accelerated pace.
Stellantis has been struggling in China recently – last year it pulled Jeep out of the country – and so for it the use of Leapmotor’s platform would be an easy way to finally make some inroads into that market.
