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You probably haven’t heard of Leapmotor before and that’s because before the Stellantis group formed a joint venture in 2024, Leapmotor only operated in China. So the obvious question is why Stellantis with brands like Vauxhall, Peugeot, Citroen and FIAT is interested in this partnership. The answer is cars like the T03 which is aimed squarely at the City Car sector, where the economics of going EV are very difficult for European manufacturers to crack.
So what is the T03 like? It is just over 3.6 metres in length which is ideal for the urban environment but still has 4 doors and thanks to the boxy exterior a very airy interior. Boot space is acceptable with 210 litres with the seats up, and increases to 880 litres with the rear seats folded. Visibility is excellent and the attractive dashboard boasts an 8 inch LCD instrument binnacle and a 10 inch touchscreen. As always we would happily swap many of the touchscreen controls for buttons, but the screen falls easily to hand and is clearly laid out.
On the move the T03 can feel slow at times and offers moderate grip levels, so it feels most at home in the city. This is exemplified by the steering which is very light in all 3 steering modes (we found Comfort and Standard too light on the open road) and doesn’t provide any meaningful feedback. However the strong self centreing and lack of weight could be just the ticket in its preferred environment.
The range (165 miles on the official tests) and charging performance (7 kW AC and 45 kW) also make most sense if you play to the Leapmotors strengthens. With a small battery the limited charging speeds are appropriate, and lets face it racking up 165 miles is going to take a while in any UK city centre. Whereas competitors also easily handle the occasional longer journey, the T03’s laser focus on city life does pay off (so to speak) by seriously undercutting rivals on price.
We do like the approach that Leapmotor has taken with specifying a T03, basically the only option is paint colour, and that makes it really easy to spec and means that the basic specification is good. You even get a charging cable included which is great as this is an obvious item to put on the options list if you are trying to keep the list price in check.
The T03 sets it stall out clearly; in return for a very attractive list price you get a range that is clearly aimed at urban running with charging capability and driving dynamics to match. If you are after a City Car in the truest sense, the Leapmotor’s compromises make more sense.
Read our full Leapmotor T03 review
Estimated real world range: 115 – 165 miles
Official range: 165 miles
Official electricity consumption: 163 Wh/km
Battery pack: 37.3 kWh lithium ion; 8 year / 100,000 mile warranty
Recharge time: 7 kW charge approx 6 hours; Rapid CCS 45 kW approx 36 minutes (30 – 80%)
Please note that CO2 emissions quoted for electric cars are not directly comparable to diesel and petrol cars. This is because CO2 emissions quoted are calculated by Green Car Guide and include the emissions created at the power station turning fuel (e.g. gas etc) into electricity and in transmitting and distributing the electricity to an end user. They do not include the actual production of the fuel (e.g. gas extraction and refinery emissions). Petrol and diesel emissions are supplied by car manufacturers and are based solely on the fuel burnt in the engine (tailpipe emissions) and do not include the production of the fuel or distribution to a fuel station. In practice this means that electric car emissions are over-estimated relative to petrol and diesel. For instance if an electric car, a petrol car, and a diesel car are all reported to emit 100 g/km CO2, the electric car actually has lower emissions.
