The host is talking about how China’s car industry—especially electric cars—is growing fast and changing what happens in Europe. That includes how European companies respond and how deals/partnerships start forming.
The Leap Motor T03 (often shortened to T3) is a small electric car. The host drove it and is talking about it as a quick review item. It’s meant for everyday driving, like getting around town.
Car
Leap Motor T03
The Leap Motor T03 is a small electric car meant for city driving. The host says it handled lots of miles in rain and cold really well, with good wipers and heating.
The Leap Motor B10 is an electric SUV. The host says it’s very efficient and comfortable, with lots of storage and good rear-seat space, and they mention it costs about £31,000 in the UK.
The Alpina B10 is a luxury car that’s designed to feel sporty while still being comfortable. In the podcast, the host has been using one for a week and is reviewing it. The focus is on how it drives and works day to day.
For an electric car, “energy efficient” means it doesn’t waste electricity. That usually helps it go farther on a charge and can make it cheaper to run.
Stellantis (spelled here as “Stalantis”) is a big car company in Europe. The host is saying it has some kind of connection or strategy involving Chinese EV brands like Leap Motor.
Concept
Chinese car invasion
“Chinese car invasion” is a dramatic way of saying lots of Chinese cars are moving into other countries. The discussion is about whether a big automaker can benefit from that trend instead of just being threatened by it.
The Leap Motor B10 is an electric SUV. The speaker says it feels well put together and is fun to drive, and it helped the company grow quickly in the UK.
The Ford Model T is a very old Ford car from the early days of mass car production. It’s famous because it helped many people be able to buy cars. The podcast brings it up as an example of a car from far back in time.
“C-segment” is a way of classifying car size in Europe. A “C-segment SUV” is basically a mainstream compact SUV—bigger than a small city car, but not the biggest family SUV category.
They’re referencing the Nissan Leaf as another older electric car example. The takeaway is that earlier EVs often needed more charging than newer models.
Adaptive cruise control is like cruise control, but it also watches the car in front of you. It can automatically slow down and speed up to keep a safe gap.
ADAS means “advanced driver assist.” It’s a set of safety and convenience features that help the car drive more safely, like helping with speed and alerts.
For an electric car, “range” means how many miles you can drive before the battery runs low. The number you see is an estimate, and your actual miles can be more or less depending on how you drive and the weather.
“State of the battery” is basically how full (and how healthy) the battery is right now. If it’s in good shape and well-charged, you can expect the car to go farther.
“Clean sheet of paper” means starting fresh instead of modifying something that already exists. It usually signals a brand is building its plan and product from the ground up.
The Chevrolet C10 is a pickup truck, meaning it has an open cargo bed. It’s a popular older truck model that many people recognize. The podcast mentions it as a big, common example when comparing vehicles.
The Range Rover is a large luxury SUV made by Land Rover. It’s designed to sit high off the ground, so it can look like you’re at the same height as other drivers. That’s why it stands out when you’re stuck in traffic.
“C-segment” is a way of describing the car’s size category. A “hatch” means the back door opens upward, and these cars are usually practical for everyday use.
Dealerships are the local shops where you buy cars and get them serviced. The point here is that using existing dealerships can make it faster for a new EV brand to start selling and supporting cars.
The service department is where the dealership fixes and maintains cars. They’re saying dealers will need training so the technicians can work on the specific Leap Motor EVs.
They mean using the existing dealership setup instead of starting over. The idea is that the dealer network already has systems for selling EVs, so the new brand can move faster.
Fast chargers are EV charging stations that charge your battery quicker than normal chargers. Even with a fast charger, your car has to be able to plug in the right way.
CCS is the common plug type many EVs use for charging, including fast charging. If your car uses CCS but you try to use a different kind of charger, it won’t connect properly.
The speaker is talking about how car salespeople used to focus on petrol cars, and EVs are a different world. If the staff don’t know EV charging basics, customers can get stuck.
“Handover” means the moment the dealership gives you the car and teaches you how to use it. With electric cars, that teaching matters a lot because charging can be confusing at first.
Concept
taking the leap as we like to say from from thermic to um obviously electric
“Thermic” here is being used to contrast internal-combustion cars (which rely on burning fuel to make power) versus electric cars. The “leap” is the buyer’s change in everyday habits—especially around charging instead of refueling.
Motorway services are the places you stop on a highway to rest, buy food, and—now—charge an electric car. They matter because they provide public charging when you can’t charge at home.
Charging at home means plugging your electric car in where you live instead of using public charging stations. Many people do it overnight so the car is ready in the morning, and it’s usually easier and often cheaper.
Public charging means using chargers that aren’t at your house—like at stations or service areas. The point here is that many EV owners mostly charge at home, and only use public chargers occasionally.
An “EV owner” is just someone who has an electric car. In this story, the key benefit is that charging overnight means they don’t need to stop at petrol stations as often.
Charging overnight means plugging in your electric car at night so it’s ready by morning. It helps because you don’t have to think about charging during the day.
They’re bringing up a privacy fear: some people worry a car (especially from China) might collect data or send it somewhere. It’s mentioned as a reason some customers hesitate.
Car
Leap tzero three
Leap tzero three is an electric car model from Leapmotor. The point here is that the company can start making it in Europe quickly and scale production based on demand.
Stellantis is a big car company. Here, the host is saying Stellantis helps by having factories and production capacity that make it easier to build cars closer to where they’re sold.
Suspension settings refer to how a car’s suspension is tuned—things like spring/damper behavior and ride/handling balance. The host frames it as part of adapting an EV to European tastes, alongside ADAS features.
A heat pump is how an EV warms the cabin (and sometimes helps the battery) more efficiently. Instead of using lots of electricity to make heat, it transfers heat, which can help the car go farther. It matters most when it’s cold outside.
Stellantis is a big car company that makes and sells cars under lots of different brand names. Because it owns many brands, it can share parts and technology across different models. That’s why it can feel like there are “too many brands” to keep track of.
This is about how long an EV’s battery lasts before it starts to feel “worn out.” If the battery doesn’t last, it can mean costly repairs, so people worry about replacement timing.
They’re saying EV batteries are getting better and can last longer than people used to think. Sometimes that’s because the battery design improves, and sometimes because there are better ways to service or replace parts of the battery.
This is about the EV battery warranty. The host is saying most brands cover the battery for around eight years, so buyers shouldn’t expect to replace it after just a few years.
These numbers are how long many people keep the car under common payment plans or leases. The host’s point is that most buyers are likely to be done with the car before any battery-wear fears would matter.
Concept
warranty is covered on the battery
An EV battery warranty is the promise from the maker that they’ll cover battery problems for a certain number of years. It’s important because battery replacement can be expensive.
Term
over 600 000 miles
They’re talking about an EV that racked up more than 600,000 miles. The takeaway is that the car was used very hard as a limousine and still made it a long time before major battery work was needed.
Rapid charging is when you plug an EV into a fast charger that can add a lot of battery power quickly. It’s great for convenience, but doing it all the time can be harder on the battery than slower charging.
Battery life is how long the EV battery keeps working well before it starts losing capacity. How you charge—especially using fast chargers often—can affect how quickly it wears out.
LIVE
Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Everything Electric podcast.
Really quite an interesting little chat today. So I've been doing a lot of talking
and thinking and contemplating and reading and researching about
Chinese the Chinese automotive industry and the impact it's having in Europe.
And then the kind of liaisons that are now beginning to happen between European firms
and European manufacturers and Chinese companies. And how you know just it's fascinating how in a sense
you know the Europe has hasn't really got the mates that we used to have over the other side
of the Atlantic. So we're kind of in a different we're kind of looking at different places.
How the world shifts you know I don't know why I expected it to stop shifting.
It's always been shifting shifted when I was little it's shifting now or shifting long after
I've gone anyway. It was so it was great to get the opportunity two things three things
I can do three quick things one I drove the the Leap Motor T03 earlier this year when we did the
little road trip through Wales with three of the smallest cheapest electric cars available in the
UK and it turned out to be extraordinarily competent even though it's like designed as a
little tiny city car I drove it I don't know how many many hundreds of miles in the rain in the
cold and it was fine brilliant wipers excellent heating. For the last week I've had a Leap Motor
B10 which we've filmed a review of and that will go out soon or it's already gone out by the time
you see this which is I mean it's an SUV so it's not my favourite type of vehicle but as SUVs go
oh my god incredibly energy efficient really comfortable really comfy grunt free getting in
and out of an old bloke really comfy back seats masses of storage and impressive impressive car
for £31,000 UK which is like what you know it's for a car like that to be that what we're seeing
is electric cars are getting cheaper than the petrol ones and that's just going to keep going.
So after all that I then thought what it's really good that we've actually managed to
to arrange this podcast with Damien Daly who is the managing director of Leap Motor International
which he will explain because it is a fascinating Leap Motor and Stalantis or Stalantis own a big
chunk of Leap Motor. Leap Motor is a Chinese company cars are made in China at the moment but
they're about to be made in Europe as well really interesting story and I really hope you enjoy it
and just before we dive into that I just want to say I don't and I don't know which shows will
be available I think definitely Twickenham in the beginning of September and obviously Sydney
in September are the two big live events we've got going but we've got lots of other things
stewing and brewing and all sorts of stuff going on but if you're in the sort of greater
London area and you want to have a go in huge array just staggering array of different electric
cars that's the place to come zero pressure sales pressure zero hassle you know it's all in one
place same in Sydney this time in Sydney it's going to be the biggest show I think we've ever
done anywhere I mean and it's a really interesting reflection of what's going on in Australia so
that's in the middle of September that's all now for the time being let's talk let's talk the
automotive industry China Stalantis Leap Motor and all things related please welcome Damien Daly
to the Everything Electric podcast our three free YouTube channels on EVs and clean energy tech
are funded by our fun packed test drive tastic events in the UK and Australia next up everything
electric greater London and then Sydney all events include a B2B EV day and commercial vehicles too
so Damien thank you very much for taking the time to talk to us today it is I mean it's just
fascinating I just want to say the thing that knocks me out about Leap Motor is
it's only just over 10 years old as a company you know when you think of car companies they
usually you know the ones we're all familiar with between 50 and 100 years old this is 10 years old
and the car is amazing well that's good to see you Robert and yeah you're absolutely right and the
speed which this this thing is moving at is is is incredible really so you'll hang on the the
company was founded in in 2015 the the Stalantis let me say our CEO signed the deal on the 23rd of
21% of Leap Motor in China yes and then within six months formed Leap Motor International
and then within six months then were launched in Europe and then launched in the UK in March
last year so I mean it's it's it's whirlwind paced it's incredible very very exciting I have to say
it must be an amazing business to be to be in because it's it's moved so quickly
because there were so many things you know I'd heard of the brand I'd seen a big stand I was a
Shanghai Motor Show last year so it was very or we spent a lot of time on the Leap Motor stand so
I kind of knew I thought I knew about it but I there even then assumed it was probably 30 or 40
years old the company you know that like you know a few other brands in China have been around for a
while that is so sudden and also it's just I don't I'm not going to you know whinge on about it wine
on it no glow on about it but the quality of the build of the car I've just had the Leap Motor B10
for a week because I've we filmed it last week I mean it's a really well put together car that is
really really nice to drive and how is it possible a 10 year old company yeah well here's the quick
thing I looked it up Ford were 10 years old in or 11 years old I think in 19 1912 right you know so
I mean and who can who can remember a model that Ford made in 1995 that's pre that predates the the
model T you know just like that is incredible the speed that these things happening but what's
super super exciting really is the basic is the reaction time as well so and the willingness to
listen and the speed it takes to implement change and I think you can see the T03 was the first car
yeah and then I mean we launched rather than usually with our smallest car and our biggest car
and we all almost described the bookends and then the commitment to our retailers and the
commitment to the customers was we were then going to go and fill in the gaps between our smallest
and our largest over kind of the next 18 months really so so we would have a segment through to
D segment SUV and as I say quite unusual to have the smallest and largest and then you know we
launched our B10 the one you drove so thank you so much for the feedback which is a C segment SUV
which is the largest in the UK and we launched that just before Christmas um and that really
catapulted us forward because with the two original cars which we launched in the UK we had about 33
percent of the country cut sorry the the model range the customer base covered but that immediately
took us to about 75 percent so right and we launched it in November which you kind of think
well is that a smart time to launch car yeah you know everyone's in sort of Christmas mode and
but it was a really really good thing because it enabled us to train our retailers to get the
dealer demonstrators on to do the press activity so they're literally kind of you know as I say when
Big Ben struck 12 rather than kind of a two week delay when everyone's on holiday and all that kind
of stuff it was like boom we were out and we're on the box we're on television first week in in
January and you know it's kind of really really forgive the pun let forward but um but it's been
super super exciting you know it's it's um the pace is amazing um we've got new models to come as
well um but I think our our key moment really um when I look back um and and you know we celebrated
our to put the context of your example a moment ago yeah yeah well 10 years old in the UK we're
just over one right one year old um so we did some fun stuff uh with our dealers
and and uh celebrating our first birthday um but the you know the pace things are moving it is is
incredible and we've got so much more more to come so but the blast off moment as I was saying was
really last summer we were the first brand to launch our own grant so obviously it's fabulous
that the UK government launched their EV grant because you know that's exactly what everybody
wanted uh even though we weren't necessarily going to qualify it was great because you know
EV is from the front page of newspapers and all of a sudden massive interest in EVs but if you
remember there was a bit of a hullabaloo as to what qualifies what doesn't and uh we got in well we
got in very very fast and that's again super exciting because the speed which we can make get
decisions and the agility um and we launched so I think they mentioned it on the the announced
it to the press I think it was on the 15th of July we announced our grant on the 18th and it was
our blast off moment as I call it and we kind of haven't looked back so it's it's been a it's been
whilst it's not been very long as we've we've crammed quite a lot of things so I think it's
super exciting yeah because I drove the TO3 that we did a little jaunt through Wales earlier this
year uh three small affordable cars the TO3 yeah yeah it was great fun it was the weather was not
kind to us but it was it was great but the I mean the fact is the TO3 was just the it's just
incredibly cheap and all three of us had a go in it and every everyone said um you know I my
expect well I think when you come across a car like that your expectations are fairly low so
anything better than that you go wow this is you know when I first left here to drive to North
Wales in a car with you know not amazing range I went this is going to be an adventure it was so
easy it was so easy to I mean I had to charge it once to get to land the land dud know you know
that's amazing that is in comparison with the like the first generation of electric cars like
your Zoe's in your Leafs I don't have to charge those three or four times yeah so we never I'll
be honest with you we never set out to be the cheapest what what we wanted as a positioning
was to be the best value yeah and I think the word value is often misused in in our kind of day
to day vocabulary really because we sort of associate it value with cheap supermarkets list
up stuff but actually you know the true definition as we know is this is kind of like I pay x and I
get y so actually it's and that value attached to what you get so actually we are the lowest priced
EV with our leap drawn to 14,495 pounds but the key thing is all that specification that you get
regardless whether it was an electric vehicle or not but all that level of specification you know
false allowers full sunroof you know a large screen adaptive adaptive cruise control on a
14 and a half down a bit so an 11 ADAS features so and we packed a lot into actually a really
let me say low price yeah no I think so I thought we were all blown away by and it did the journey
beautifully and I mean it did a long driver and we we picked that road because in mythologically
it has the least public charging available of any road anywhere in the country you know it's not
but actually we won an award for against the range because the range we state is 165 miles
right we've actually recognition for actually because the people's perception and I think this
is interesting because people forget everyone talks about the kind of oh yeah well it'll be 20
30 less everyone forgets on petrol cars the same principle should apply but actually we got you
know we got recognized in the industry for actually achieving that 165 which was great and I can
believe it no absolutely yeah and I mean the thing I noticed about driving the b10 which I've done a
fairly long trips in it is it didn't occur to me to check the range or see how far it was it just
I just drove it because it's a car and you're getting I had to go to from a to b I got to be
and I went oh oh yeah I better look at the state of the battery it was fine I mean that range I
don't know what the stated ranges I can't I'm written it down but it's 270 miles so yeah I mean
it's it just is like yeah anyway you know so I'm pleased you liked it and it's opportune time
you want those yeah no it's really it looks and also that's kind of our volume seller Robert
through us you're right I can imagine now it's amazing but but but interestingly when we first
started the journey we expected the t03 which we've just talked about to be the volume product
right because and again we know we started the brand with a with a clean sheet of paper and
in the business plan we thought that would be the volume car because I see our c10 which is the
biggest the dsuv if you watched it it was very well priced at 36 and a half thousand pounds
there's a lot of players in that kind of area in that area yeah but actually the opposite kind of
happened I mean we sold the t03 quite well but c10's far the past are expectations and and only
just in the last sort of month now b10 has taken over and b10 should take over because the segment
is roughly speaking at four cars registered in the uk three of them are a c-segment suv so it's the
largest lot larger segment yeah I mean that was because I I have ranted about suv but when I was
in that one and I was in a traffic jam and there was about three Range Rovers I went oh I'm at the
same height as those people normally they're up there you know but I was so I mean the thing is
that it's it is a big car but if you had a I rave about in the in the review we've done but I mean
if you've got a you know I've looked back to my at the time I had smaller children I mean my kids
are in their 30s now but they that would have been such an ideal car the boot space is ridiculously
enormous it's just it's got so much storage space you know when you when I think back to
bikes and skateboards and bags and all that stuff you have to go around yeah yeah yes it would have
been a very very popular choice at that time so then the one that's coming then that looked
really nice the B is it the B05 the the kind of yeah so so it's the B05 so so we will launch this
in middle of July so just planning our launch activities for this almost as we speak so
we'll be on television it's it's a as you say a c-segment hatch
really probably I'm not saying it's a sports car or a sporty car but a bit bit sportier
really really interesting shape interestingly a minute ago I was going to ask you whether you
liked SUVs because there are a lot of people do but not everyone necessarily always wants an SUV
so I think this this could be interesting and it's also got some different aspects like I'll
have things like launch control on it so and we're trying to position this also to a wider
audience trying to attract some younger people as well so we've got quite a cool concept which I
would love to tell you about but I can't and we're going to go on tv without we've got some
really interesting things so so that will be with us we look literally looking to book the
television for the 17th of July right and then we will launch a we'll also launch a range extender
version of our b10 the one you've just driven right which I mean let me be clear we are an
electric brand first right for whatever reason the people whoever can't quite make that leap right
now so we want to be 90 electric we're launching that in in in b10 we've already got it on c10
and then we will launch the b03x which is a family car in sort of mid-september time
which is really really super super interesting we position our seats you talked a moment ago when
when your kids were younger and the amount of clutter so because we've got b10 and c10 sort of
you know 4.7 meter and a 4.45 meter an SUV we positioned our c10 the biggest car
more at families and the b03x will be in a very similar sort of vein so we we're looking to make
that very much kind of to appeal to the masses and then finally finally at the end of the year
which we will really commercialize next year don't get me wrong will be our final car of our current
66 car range so we will have jumped from being two cars covering 33 percent of the market
when we launched in march last year to over 90 percent of the market within two years basically
having launched and presumably you got you have a like a service centers around the country is that
i mean are you are you and have you actually got like leap motor dealerships because i'm trying to
think yeah yeah yeah so so i mean let's touch on this a second because i think this is important
so there are lots of new chinese brands i mean there's and there's a lot more to come
so we think we are quite unique and in the same way i think value is often misused as a word i
think the word unique is overused yeah when i say we're unique in so much
us that basically whilst delantis bought 21 percent of leap motor in china the leap motor
international which was formed six months afterwards is leap motor everywhere in the world
external of china right so now this gives us a real advantage and point of difference versus any
other chinese brand really in so much as basically to come back to a question about dealerships
we had dealerships almost ready made that we could so we could act and it fits in with the speed i
mentioned a moment ago and and and like a lot of these new chinese brands you know who are new to
europe we obviously had tried and tried and tested systems you know these systems have been
serving dealerships and customers for you know decades i mean some of our brands have been
you talked about the the age of four i mean some of our brands that have all etc have been in the
uk for a hundred odd years so yeah so this kind of uniqueness of all the benefits that
slantis bring us so so we actually when we kicked off last year we had 44 retailers right and and
we are currently at 80 wow okay and yeah and we look to close the year close to 110 right so it's
easier for me to tell you which i won't because it's a bit negative where we don't have dealers
but even that would be pretty much closed by the end of this year really so no one will have to
travel too far and and rightly so if they want to choose a later but at the moment as we stand
today all of our dealers are existing slantis dealers right right but i mean that's the so
presumably though that you can then train people in the service departments to be familiar with the
cars you know that's part of that process i'm guessing 100 percent so first of all they're
familiar with selling evs in the first instance yeah secondly we can piggyback all the systems
and processes which gives us a massive advantage and then obviously clearly we need to train them
specifically in the leap motor products which so we almost almost got two-thirds of the job done
before you start really so yeah i mean it's a really you know a good point and i think i mean
obviously it's changing but there have been examples i remember helping a woman at a rapid
charger in bristol i don't know what 89 years ago who was who had just bought i'm not
going to mention the brand it wasn't a slantis brand uh had just bought a new electric car from
a dealership and they hadn't shown her how to plug in i mean the most basic thing she'd never
driven electric or so she'd driven to bristol to see her daughter at university and she couldn't get
home and she was you know in tears and she said oh i can't use the the fast chargers my car doesn't
have that connection you know the ccs you pull out the plug she didn't know i mean the most simple
thing to show so we when we showed her she but she burst into tears literally she was
because she had no idea and we plugged it in for her and we paid i paid for it i thought just
have some electricity you know you'd be all right and it charges her car and she was fine
but that she was lucky failing but yeah exactly she'd been on her own at the middle of the night
but that failing of the sales system you know in a sense it was part of that transition where
people who'd gone into car sales were probably petrol heads that love petrol cars and then
they suddenly had to deal with these weird new ones i'm assuming with my fingers crossed that
that's not the case at the dealerships well well well so it's a really interesting discussion
point so so first of all i think the handover of an electric car is even i mean handovers were
always important sometimes some stuff but even more important now um simply because uh i mean
even some of the non electric cars you know the technology advancements and a significant you
know if there's hardly anything there's analogue anymore on any on any car is it so but particularly
i think on on electric cars and and i think also you know a lot of people have you know made the
like taking the leap as we like to say from from thermic to um obviously electric and what we don't
want is people panicking like that lady um you know because that because if she hadn't met you
you could have completely destroyed the whole experience so yeah so so we we put a lot of
attention onto this in fairness our sister brands within slantis already had so we had that learning
which we could benefit from but we're also producing um because often when people get their
car they just want to go you know they want to get drive and but so so there's a
proper explanation at point of handover uh first and foremost but we're also we also produce some
videos as well so we're doing some short videos and some longer videos so if someone just wants
to know the five basic things that they need to know then what then we've got something for that
person and then which obviously charging is one of those and then if someone wants to know in more
detail um you know then we've then we've got longer content as well which they can look at right
because i'm sure yeah it's not going to be the same and i think also the general kind of public
knowledge about electric vehicles has shifted since then it was it was all very new to her you know
and now if you even if you're driving a you know a petrol car and you stop at a motorway services
it's very likely you'll see the 30 boxes that have got charges on you kind of you've kind of
it's become a familiar sight i think isn't it yeah i mean i mean absolutely and it's it but
but you know it's nice that you stepped in and i think this is the point i mean it's
i mean most people are charging at home yes i mean it's interesting because the whole sort of you
can i live with an electric car unless cost i mean i mean it certainly in most cases
you know people are people are doing less miles than they actually really think they are
and actually doing 90 90 percent of the charging at home i mean i mean i've i've charged publicly a
couple of times but most of the time i'm charging at home yeah and it's massively convenient i mean
my father is an EV owner and i convinced him into it it was before leak motors just to be
clear so don't ask me which car and and you know probably one of the few things he trusts me on
is his car choice and don't mean that quite as bad as he said he was watching but you know and he
loved it he loves it now because every time he gets in this car he's charging overnight at a really
you know an amazing cost you know he's obviously retired and every time he gets in his car yeah
doesn't he doesn't need to visit petrol station anymore yeah and that's a very different message
because i've you know i mean what's become very apparent to me is you know in a sense this is
the wider electric vehicle topic but i just wonder if you've felt this that it really is this year
there's this been this enormous increase in well in in sales of electric vehicles but just in
general acceptance i've done a couple of public talks recently where in the past and i'm talking
even 56 years ago the questions would have been more skeptical not this you know not
necessarily hostile but they would have been negative and what about this and the batteries
don't you know i there's none of that anymore i don't get any of that i don't know whether
have you felt that there's a sort of shift a wider shift i think there's a couple of things
in this so so first so first of all i think fundamentally human beings want to do the right
thing fundamentally i mean you'll find obviously there are people who don't don't misunderstand me
but you know we kind of know that this is the right thing to do you know what stood in our past
previously is and and certainly when i ran fear previously and we did our own research
it was price was a prohibitive factor to move to electric yeah and and now now that kind of you
know demonstrated by brands like lee motor absolutely isn't the case i think also even
i think most people who are coming to the end of finance arrangements or looking to buy a new car
they're asking themselves a natural question should my next car be electric yeah so so if
we can catch that i think that's that's really opportune as well and and i think also even
things like the petrol crisis and stuff like this is making people think you know and
i think the other factor is most people now know people who have made the switch to electric and
if you speak to those people and they get endorsement and referral for the fact that absolutely their
lives are almost better and you know kind of then as a result so i think there's a lot of
aspects to it and we're certainly saying that um you know people are people are with and another
key point which we're finding which is quite interesting is whilst we're coupled with slantus
brands 95 percent of the customers we're attracting as lee motor are new to slantus so actually we're
attracting new new people into the dealerships as well right um and and as i say we're a first
we're a eb brand first and foremost so um obviously it's quite interesting i mean that is certainly
one of the things that i was embarrassed to learn about myself because i hadn't really thought about
that cli but you know brand loyalty i got asked in an interview you know what about are you now
brand loyal to any particular make no i've never been i've never done brand loyalty then they asked
what was your last petrocar it was a golf what was the one before that a golf what was the one
before that it's like four golfs in a row okay i had brand loyalty but you know yeah but that's
that flips doesn't i mean i think that's i've talked to numerous people in the auto industry
about that that the arrival of electric cars people would suddenly you know buy a brand that
they'd never even touched before you know it kind of threw things up in the air a bit i think this
is an interesting point and you know i've read quite a few things about this and i don't think the
automotive and the electric thing is is is unique i think maybe there's something in it that post
covid and yeah if you look at some other industries um and whilst my wife tells me i'm too old to buy
trainers now i've always been a bit of a trainer nerd really and you know you look at
there's there's quite a few new sporting brands which you know 510 years ago people wouldn't
entertain you know 510 years ago it was all about Nike it was all about adidas and
there's a bit of puma now you've got brands like on hookah and and all these other brands which have
come from nowhere so maybe there's just a whole thing now that basically people are more open to
different brands and i think yeah i think if you think coming back to us here in the now i think
if you're open if you're thinking about electric you probably are looking to um and you read up
and you are absolutely more open to these new brands than perhaps you ever would be before
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on the road and i mean what about the the china thing is that is that ever mentioned with customers
are they going i don't know if i want a chinese car because it'll be spying on me or whatever reason
or i don't want to you know there's that i mean i hear that sometimes but it's kind of
not very often but it definitely is there and we i did a talk at the shuttle science festival
just yesterday and one of the questions was about vehicle security from someone who works at gchq
but who i later spoke to who's got a chinese car don't need to mention what brand but you know
that was quite amusing but i mean i think it's a there's a background hum story about you know
what are we totally reliant on china for everything which we kind of are i mean the computers we're
using to talk to each other large amounts of the equipment in the world made in china you know
it's very yeah dominant manufacturer yeah i mean i i i we haven't had a lot of that
beyond this for you and i think you're absolutely right i mean it's it's not just a car thing is it
i mean um exactly i'm not next not on the industry but i think you know the television industry has
changed as well i think there's a chinese brand which is i'm a number one number two and in theory
you mentioned spying that'd be looking at your 24 seven so yeah and your phone as well is it you
know with you yeah so i don't think these are i mean first of all let me be really clear to any
also let less to you but to anyone who's listening and watch this is is that you know we are um you
know we we are 51 percent stelantis stelantis european brand yeah we're not we're not in this
for the short term yeah if you add even or add together the history
of our brands in the uk you're nearly 800 years you know we're not we're not into any shortcuts
or anything like that so i really if any consumer i think the best thing if if something is on a
consumer's mind the best thing to do is for them to say it because at least yeah absolutely you've
got an opportunity to respond and and i think these things i'm sure somebody
worries about these types of things but i think you know it's really not the case and um yeah
it's like we've got that again that's the that's the usp versus an unknown chinese brand
and i think some of these chinese brands the consumer is naturally kind of thinking well
is this brand still going to be here in yeah in five years a lot of giving long warranties they're
going to be here at the end of the war you know at the end of the war to discuss stuff i mean we
absolutely will because we've got the backing of um you know that stelantis being the fourth
fourth largest manufacturer which is i think super super important and again absolutely
as of today is unique in the industry it's also i mean i was very pleased to see that
i think it's zaragoza isn't it there's a factory that is it open yet or it's being developed to
manufacture leap which is in within the it's going to open super super fast and and going
back to the thing we talked about earlier you know it's in actual fact um leap motor and in terms of
in terms of that speed and speed of implementation we already um started to manufacture it's actually
started and stopped which gives an example of how quickly they can turn on turn on and turn off
depending on demand so we already started to manufacture tzero three in poland for a specific
time so we were the first first to do it we obviously made the investment in spain um and i
think again this is the usp of the relationship with stelantis is massive global manufacturing
footprint and gives you know the combination of the two you know massive options to both
stelantis and also to leap motor so we don't need to look outside really yes now i mean that's i mean
so effectively i mean that's you know i'm countering my own comment about the chinese you know there's
a chinese element to it but actually at some point it's very likely the car you buy will be
actually made in europe somewhere or you know and the parts will be you're much more i mean it makes
economic sense doesn't it to make to not have to ship cars right around the world if you can make
them nearer where they sold it's a very good idea well 100 and obviously the the cars which
have been brought through and you see it in our range already i mean and i talked about at the
beginning that the adaption and the speed you know to adopt to european tastes whether that be the
adas features themselves or all the suspension settings all this car stuff is you know it's
moving it's evolving and they're learning super fast and that speed of implementation is super
super exciting so absolutely building cars for british and european taste yes yes i mean it does
look you know it's because i'm the worst i should not do the job i occasionally do i should let
other people but my ability to appreciate the aesthetics of a vehicle are very limited you
know and uh but the thing i liked about the b10 in particular was it wasn't making an effort
it wasn't showing off it wasn't being clever and flashy it was a really highly functional easy to
use easy on the eye you know it didn't i didn't look at it and go well i mean that's a bit weird
like you can do with some cars and so you know i can imagine it would be an easy car to live with
you know it's not going to be a yeah well well thank you so much for your comments i mean it's
it means a lot so i it is the largest segment so we're trying to obviously appeal to the whole
wide so you know that car could could do the job for somebody who lives on their own a couple
a couple with a first jar you know so it's a whole you know very male female split even
that kind of stuff so actually a lot of my neighbours people with dogs just i'm just saying that and
don't forget the dog sorry i don't know how to build a dog it's my favorite they would be furious
yeah lots of room for dogs and you know it's very functional so
and actually so so one thing which we've done Robert which is quite interesting as well is that
when we started to launch this we had a lot of discussion as to you know and there was some talk
some some years ago about let me say new disruptors coming into the market i mentioned a couple you
there was a discussion about apple producing cars at some point there was a discussion about
James Dyson i think he went as far as buying the factory plant and you know and then didn't
which is probably didn't make the car you know how would they have started with a blank sheet of
paper and the reality is they would have handled it in a very very different way to you know the
the brands that have been in market for decades or in some cases century so so so we we sort of
looked at this and sort of said well how do we make it what do customers want customers want
simplicity yes so we chose to and it's a little bit different in europe because they have different
versions in europe so we chose for each of our core cars to have one level of specification
which so everything as standard so it wasn't that classic case where you'd go on tv with
with advertising i don't know from 29 on our five and when you get into the showroom it's
like kind of as a sticker that says 35 000 pounds isn't it it's kind of ah yeah but it's got the 21
inch wheels and it's got the sport rack and it's got you name it so so what the only thing you need
to choose with our cars is the color and the spec is i mean super super well specced so yeah i mean
we talked we talked about something t03 but but also the b the b10 so the b10 which you've driven
with all that specification um you know 17 adas features uh you know the screens that size eco
leather full heated ventilated sport shallow wheels um you know all of that heat pump not
very sexy but on some brands cost you 1100 pounds it's very important yeah yeah all all our standard
yeah which really helps that so the only thing coming back to the what you kindly said about
the design the only thing you need to choose is the color and on b10 what color did we send you
i should know but i don't know it was a sort of it was a sort of mid gray i'm going to say a
mid blue gray it was a yeah it was on the gray blue spectrum so we've done it also we've also
launched this car some quite funky colors there's a purple and there's kind of kind of like a
pastel looking sort of blue quite sporty and then we've got the grays and stuff so the only thing
you really need to choose is your color everything else is standard which is such a good thing because
that is a it is a i'm sure it's a classical it's not new and then it's not related to electric cars
but the amount of times that you can get the new model whatever and and you go oh god that's not
bad and then you yeah exactly as you say yeah if you it's not quite if you want a steering wheel
it's an extra 500 quid but there's some things you go what you mean that's extra that should be
yes by the way but yeah yeah yeah it's kind of an you know it's it's an element it's it's
become an industry thing so so we wanted to cut through all that and make it super super simple
so it's simple for the customer it's simple for the dealer and actually it's quite it's simple to
communicate yeah i think this helps and can we talk a bit about stilantis because it is fascinating
how that company it's just you know i've lost track i'm i'll be perfect i've lost track of
how many brands are now stilantis brands but it's quite a lot and it's an extraordinary yeah
extraordinary i mean i don't know how big it is in terms of employees or numbers or value
but it's it's become a very big machine hasn't it yeah i mean obviously it's the formation of of
almost it's certainly in europe 33 organizations isn't it so there's the opal
previously with the with the former psa and then more recently and i came from the fiat
cries the side of the business right but it is a true stable of brands and amazing brands ranging
from you know french italian american yeah ranging from luxury luxury with maserati premium
without from air to you know kind of family um fun functional cars with with with brands like
fiat and so actually we're super super fortunate with leap motor because you know and i think this
is another advantage versus other chinese brands is that coming from stilantis and a stable of
brands we do understand brand and i think the uk and i guess most of your sort of listeners and
viewers are uk based probably is we are a quite sophisticated market um having worked in
europe i really understood this um people do buy they don't buy products they buy
products from brands and they buy products from brands that they trust yeah and and arguably
and you know your comments of uh i think are right and obviously i'm biased is you know arguably
stilantis has the best stable of brands i think so yeah very very it doesn't mean most of a great
platform so that i mean that i think it's a is leap motor the first chinese brand that's
that has joined the stilantis group or that stilantis have invested in
yes i think it is i mean it's the only one isn't it i think yeah yes so announced more recently
is there's going to be uh another uh venture with um another one which i won't go into now
okay okay there's a bit more of a more to come but um but certainly
leap motor is is is the first yeah and actually when we as we said at the beginning is you know
to this day it kind of unique within the marketplace yeah i mean yeah yeah no i mean it's a very
interesting shift isn't it because i mean that is you know certainly been a topic we've discussed
great length on the show you know is that i mean and it's quite a hard thing to to
sort of navigate because i don't i don't want to be a sort of promoter of chinese cars but
we just got to acknowledge that that this enormous industry when i was in china last year it was
extremely apparent you know that has happened almost without certainly european not not the
manufacturers i know that they knew but sort of european and american general public not aware
that this massive shift in engineering and in manufacturing scale had taken place and it suddenly
become you know i think post-covid has become really apparent that that's changed and i mean
or there's no i don't meet any like i always want to chat with non-car people who don't know anything
about it aren't interested at all and they're all aware of chinese brands you know they're all
you know they've heard of them i've not seen them i mean i'm a bit of a car guy so i mean i guess
i guess when you look at over you know the last few decades i guess the whole you know european
landscape really changed didn't it so first of all was the japanese yes and probably what was
what was it now for the 70s 80s i guess yeah sort of early yeah 70s yes yeah and then and then you
know the korean brands and again not not on both points not necessarily all of them remain no and
i guess that the what do they call it i guess the 20s the 2020s i guess is just now the
chinese sort of moment i think the action as well i remember the first time you know i would hear
sort of general public talking about chinese cars was exactly the same doubts and fears as they had
about korean cars and then before that a japanese girl they're not well made they're not like our
brands you know then you see them you go that car lost so that and can you the other thing i just
want to mention is the which i also think is i'm grateful is kind of diminished and it's
in it being repeated but the longevity of the batteries is you know that was the thing that for
years was was a bug bear for me people go oh well if i buy an electric car i have to throw them
throw and there was that we always use that term throw the battery away after three years
or you know you won't but yeah i mean i think there's a couple of things here so first of all
innovations happening about renewing these batteries and kind of you know prolonging the
life and stuff so yeah i mean it's it's there's a lot of progression happening now and and again
it's that kind of scare mongering is it they those sort of things fit with the whole range
anxiety and all this kind of all this other stuff but i mean certainly and i think most car brands
now are guaranteed for eight years so it's that concern it's really not i mean i mean just to
be clear for most british buyers um now are buying um on 36 months 48 months
these people and that kind of stuff anyway so i mean obviously more than twice that the the
warrant is covered on the battery so i think these concerns yeah i mean we interviewed a guy last year
who was in australia who who has a famous american electric car brand as a i like i like the fact
we're never going to mention any other brand name anyway it was it was used as a limousine and he
he had to change the battery now this is with the story at over 600 000 miles he'd finally
replace the battery so when we talked to him he was great guy and this car is in use all day
long journeys you know it's it's very very heavy use because it's a limousine it's not like a private
car yeah and he said before that they had to replace the rear drive chain the rear suspension
the front suspension the steering all the seats the lining everything in the car
worn out and falls a bit longer that's amazing testimony also all electric is incredible i mean
it is and i think you know that was exceptional and they were exceptional and the other thing
about that was they only ever rapid charged it because they didn't have any other choice
they had easy access to rapid chargers and nothing else so that you know which was a very good
uh i don't i don't because what i tell people now is don't worry about the battery you know in
15 years the car will need a lot of attention the battery will be fine you know yeah and i think
there's also massive innovations happening between it so i advise the car now and in terms of what
prolonging future battery life as we speak yeah also from the environmental perspective to make
sure they make they continue yes yeah i mean it's been great talking to you because i think this is
a really intriguing you know a turn of events in the automotive world and i think you know
i'm sure leap motor gonna go from strength to strength i mean it's a still a new
brand to me those those two cars the first ones i never i haven't driven them thing before but
then i you know so i thought how did i miss out on that and then i realized of course i did because
it's only 10 years old you know i mean it's we and we're one year old in the UK and
yeah and yeah and and and we'd be lovely to catch up with you know yet another year's time but i mean
we're growing super fast we've already broken a 0.5 percent market share and i think this is important
because i think as i say to one my team so one in 21 in 200 cars which are registered as a
leap motor by the end of this year the plan is the is to be one percent so one in a hundred cars
a rest of will be a leap motor so lots of grapes uh growth scope to come and you know we're super
super young and um yeah lots of new stuff and it's super super exciting i'm i'm i'm looking forward
to seeing the b05 when it's when it's around be great okay very nice all right we know it's been
really hope you enjoyed that um please do tell your friends about the everything electric
podcast please do subscribe yourself if you haven't cost you nothing it's hugely helpful to us
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About this episode
Leap Motor’s rapid push into Europe becomes the lens for a bigger question: can Stellantis turn Chinese EV momentum into an advantage? The hosts trade hands-on impressions of the Leap T03 and B10, including efficiency, practicality, and pricing. They also unpack the rollout mechanics—deal timing, a 21% stake, and using existing Stellantis dealers—alongside real-world EV concerns like charging handovers and battery-warranty confidence. The conversation closes with product plans, including a B10 range-extender.
Robert Llewellyn gets a glimpse behind the scenes at one of the biggest car companies in the world, as he talks to the man leading its' newest brand. With only a year on sale in the UK, Leapmotor - a Chinese company, within which Stellantis has a 20% stake - has made its mark. Damien Dally, MD of Leapmotor UK tells us how it's been done, what's to come, and how strategic partnerships are key to the survival of new and old OEMs alike. For EV test drives aplenty, join us at our next Everything Electric expo: https://everythingelectric.show EE GREATER LONDON (Twickenham) - 11th & 12th Sept 2026 EE SYDNEY - Sydney Olympic Park - 18th - 20th Sept 2026To partner, exhibit or sponsor at our award-winning expos email: [email protected] Check out our sister channel Everything Electric CARS: https://www.youtube.com/@fullychargedshow Support our StopBurningStuff campaign: https://www.patreon.com/STOPBurningStuff Become an Everything Electric Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/fullychargedshowBecome a YouTube member: use JOIN button above Buy the Fully Charged Guide to Electric Vehicles & Clean Energy : https://buff.ly/2GybGt0 Subscribe for episode alerts and the Everything Electric newsletter: https://fullycharged.show/zap-sign-up/Visit: https://FullyCharged.Show Find us on X: https://x.com/Everyth1ngElec Follow us on Instagram: https://instagram.com/officialeverythingelectric
