Every EV executive eventually reaches into the tech industry playbook, pulls out a framed picture of Steve Jobs, and solemnly promises their brand is about to become the “Apple of electric vehicles”. At Leapmotor’s Technology Day 2026, founder and CEO Zhu Jiangming delivered that exact pledge.
Eager to shed the reputation of just another budget Chinese manufacturer thriving on affordable batteries and endless dashboards, Leapmotor wants to engineer a genuine paradigm shift. After all, Apple didn’t invent the touchscreen, the camera, or wireless streaming. It simply wrapped them into a sleek rectangle that swallowed humanity’s free time.
The grand strategy hinges on launching a second, as-yet-unnamed brand built on the brand-new LEAP 5.0 architecture. Scheduled to debut in the fourth quarter of 2027, with customer deliveries promised in the same window, this platform aims to turn the car into a “mobile living space”.
As advanced driver-assist systems take over the mundane task of actually paying attention to the road, Leapmotor envisions cabins where commuters can work, relax, or consume digital media on the go.
To power this hands-off sanctuary, the automaker introduced its Leapmotor World Model (LWM), an in-house AI platform built to handle high-level autonomous driving.
Unlike typical overpromising startups, Leapmotor actually has the sales volume to fund its tech dreams. The company delivered nearly 600,000 vehicles in 2025, more than doubling its 2024 tally, and smashed monthly records by topping 103,000 units in August 2026 alone. Meanwhile, its European expansion is moving full steam ahead thanks to Stellantis, which holds a controlling 51% stake in Leapmotor International. Pre-production of the B10 crossover is already underway at the Zaragoza assembly plant in Spain, fueling a massive push across European showrooms.
Whether drivers actually want an SUV that doubles as a mobile cubicle remains to be seen, but with Stellantis holding the keys to distribution, Zhu’s vision of a post-driving world is arriving sooner than expected.
