Driving one of the new Chinese electric cars, the Leapmotor C10 electric SUV, a company that only started in business in 2015, backed by a majority holding from the giant Stellantis company, the merger of Fiat Chrysler and the French PSA Group. The Leapmotor C10 a mid-sized SUV in two grades, the Style at $47,500, and the Design at $51,500, both driveaway. These prices very sharp and below similar sized offerings from other new Chinese brands, as well as the Kia EV 5 and the Tesla model Y. The price also including a 12-month subscription to the Charge Fox network.

On face value, a sharply priced very comfortable family friendly mid-size SUV with a single electric motor driving the rear wheels powered by a 69.9 kWh battery. The specification impressive – dual zone climate control, LED headlights, power front seats with heating and cooling, a panoramic sunroof, wireless phone charger, 12 speaker sound, a power tailgate, rear privacy glass, ambient lighting, high grade synthetic leather and a 14.6-inch touch screen with a 10.25-inch display screen in front of the driver. It also features 20-inch alloy wheels shod with quality Dunlop eSport Maxx tyres.



Whilst it is very highly equipped it does disappoint with the lack of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto highlighted by the lack of Google Apps and the excellent Google Maps, but it does have its own built-in apps like Spotify and the in-build navigation software. Also missing a spare wheel replaced by a tyre repair kit, although the upside is a rather roomy 581 litre boot with the ability to fold the rear seats backs nearly flat for a spacious load space. In all, a roomy five-seater, with excellent space in both seat rows and with great storage featuring a multitude of storage pockets. All in a somewhat handsome body with great safety credentials, awarded a five-star ANCAP safety rating offering 89 per cent adult occupant protection and 87 percent child occupant protection.



Ventilation comfort disappoints. With one long slot for an air vent and no directional controls the air-conditioning and heating response is poor at best and takes a long time to get to the selected temperature, not helped by the lack of any directional control. Further the slide operation on the touch screen is not positive. Further, the lack of any buttons or dials means you need to unnecessarily take your eyes of the road for basic control functions to adjust temperature, radio, etc. Further, the main menu on the touch screen is located on the passenger side of the large touchscreen obviously for the left-hand drive market.


The Leapmotor offers a 69.9kWh battery providing a WLTP range of 420km however during my test week of mainly city driving I managed an efficiency usage of 15.2 kWh/100km providing me with a range of 460km. Charging time on my 7kW AC charger took around 7.5 hours from 20 to 80 percent, but on a faster DC charger can see this time reduced to a more reasonable 35 minutes.

This is not an overly fast SUV with three drive modes Eco, Normal and Sport, and even in the latter performance is somewhat subdued with a 0-100km/hour time of 7.5 seconds. What is surprising is the suspension – a product of Stellanti’s associated company Maserati, who fine-tuned the chassis, and it is most competent in ride and handling with nice steering feel and a great turning circle. Braking not so sharp and a little leaden at times depending on the speed




This is an impressive first effort by Leapmotor in many areas however the driving aspect of the CI0 is let down by overly intrusive driver assist functions. No less than 17 drive assistance features are included some of which offer real assistance, others that are downright annoying and spoil the function of driving. Why Chinese car companies feel the need to provide so many driver assist elements is beyond me – they do not provide a safer driver experience but are so distractive and interventional they are a complete turnoff.

With the ability to adjust the vehicles software with over-the-air updates I understand Leapmotor has already made three adjustments to the calibration on these so-called active safety functions however the test car from my perspective still displayed far too much intervention in areas like lane keep assist, blind spot monitoring and driver attention monitoring - the lane keep assist function far too intrusive and poorly calibrated for our driving conditions with warning alarms, chimes and steering wheel adjustment that destroy the pleasure of driving. Maybe ok for congested conditions in Asian cities but here simply over reactive and unnecessary and frankly a purchase turnoff to what is an otherwise impressive first effort.



And they are not the only Chinese car company with overly intrusive active driving alarms. This week, I was advised my test week in the new Deepal S07 SUV would be delayed as all test cars were being taken off the road for a software update to their safety assist functions. Frankly, in their haste to tap our market against slow domestic sales many of the new breed of Chinese SUVs that have arrived over the last 12 months have been launched here with little or no consideration or tune to our specific driving conditions.

Why Chinese manufacturers think we need a constant reminder or prompt in every aspect of driving staggers me, its total overkill and a buyer turn off to what could be a nice SUV experience in what is an otherwise impressive family skewed newcomer.

Warranty: seven-years/160,000 with battery warranty 8-years over the same distance.
Service intervals of 12 months or 20,000km, whatever comes first,with a capped price cost of $2,000.