Leapmotor B10 Review 2025

Introduction

Breaking news: a Chinese car company has started selling cars in the United Kingdom.

If that’s started to sound like a headline you’ve heard a million times before over the past year or two, you’re absolutely right.

Leapmotor is one of over a dozen Chinese car brands that have suddenly surged into the UK marketplace, hoping to appeal to the great British public.

There is Chery, and its two sub-brands, Jaecoo and Omoda, as well as BYD, Xpeng, Ora, Skywell, GWM– that’s just a taster, and apparently there’s more yet to come.

All of them have their own background stories – some of them really quite bizarre, with fridge freezers and CCTV cameras amongst the genesis of some manufacturers, historically speaking.

Leapmotor, though, arguably has an advantage over its native competition: the big, powerful Stellantis.

The automotive goliath, formed from the 2021 merger of the PSA Group and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, owns Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Citroën, DS, Fiat, Jeep, Maserati, Peugeot, and Vauxhall/Opel, among others.

And as of late summer 2024, Stellantis also now owns 51% of Leapmotor International – essentially the umbrella organisation that runs Leapmotor’s operations outside of China.

The idea is simple: leverage Stellantis' extensive dealer network and expertise to bring Leapmotor cars to the UK’s shores and beyond.

Leapmotor has already ushered in the tiny T03 fully electric city car, along with the C10 SUV. And now it’s adding another SUV: the smaller all-electric B10.

While that could be the name of a pop group or an aircraft, it's actually a fully electric compact crossover SUV. But is it any good?

We have taken one for a test drive to give it a good old shakedown.

At A Glance

If you’ve seen the larger C10, then you’ve already got a flavour for what the Leapmotor B10 looks like.

They are by no means identical and, as we said, the B10 is smaller – but it’s got a sibling-like similarity – particularly the headlight arrangement and the thin slits which sit either side of a gap in the front.

Beneath that, there’s a cliff-edge like drop, with a blank panel in the middle, above the number plate, while the lower grille sits underneath, working its way out and up the edges like two very large air intakes, flanked by chiselled-out cheekbones.

At the sides, a couple of well-defined creases sit above the wheel arches – these creases head down and along the bottom of the doors, which are slightly concave between the front and rear wheels.

Flush door handles and a modest amount of cladding also feature. At the same time, the rear offers plenty of blank space, with centre stage taken by a horizontal light bar which thins out slightly in the middle, allowing the Leapmotor name badge to sit underneath it.

It looks nice, stylish and contemporary – and from the front, quite futuristic.

Key Features

The B10's line-up is simple. No trim levels, no choice of motors – just a single model that’s packed full of everything Leapmotor has been able to throw at it, except for the kitchen sink.

As standard, you get 18-inch alloy wheels, a 14.6-inch 2.5K HD infotainment touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a DAB radio, an 8.8-inch digital instrument cluster, full LED headlights and taillights and wireless keycard entry.

You also get heated and ventilated, fully reclinable seats, pop-out door handles, a 360-degree surround-view camera, a wireless mobile phone charging pad, and a 12-speaker sound system that syncs with your music and features 64-colour ambient lighting.

Finishing the job is a large panoramic sunroof, as well as a heat pump, which uses far less power than conventional air conditioning and is often an expensive optional extra on plenty of other cars.

There is also a large suite of safety systems, which we'll come to later.

As for power, the B10’s electric motor provides rear-wheel drive and produces 219PS.

Range & Batteries

The Leapmotor B10 comes with a 67.1kWh (usable) battery pack.

It is also an LFP (lithium-iron phosphate) battery, which offers more energy but weighs less than standard lithium-ion batteries.

That is good news – and Leapmotor claims it’s good enough for a range of 270 miles, which isn't bad. Don't expect to achieve that in the real world, though – anything above two-thirds of that figure is likely more realistic.

Real-world range depends on a multitude of factors, including ambient temperature and your driving style.

Performance & Drive

Testing is simple, given there’s only one motor to pick.

The 219PS unit keenly drives the rear wheels off the line to achieve a zero to 62mph time of 8.0 seconds, which is pretty good, maxing out at 106mph.

It is not ultra-rapid, and the sensation of putting your foot down isn't quite the enormous surge of instant power that you get in some rivals, but it's still pretty brisk. In fact, flooring the throttle will generate wheelspin that its safety systems can't properly control.

If you find the acceleration is too severe, then setting it to its lowest Eco setting will substantially rein in the power.

The electric motor is oil-cooled, which Leapmotor says increases its smoothness and improves efficiency – in fact, Leapmotor claims the motor is 94% efficient.

In terms of handling prowess, the B10 doesn’t excel, generating plenty of body roll in the corners. Granted, no SUV handles particularly well, but the Leapmotor is noticeably short of its rivals in terms of its ability to take bends at speed.

The steering is very light - arguably too light in some driving modes - and it doesn't provide much feedback to give you any confidence to push on.

The ride is quite comfortable, though, ironing out potholes, and lumps in the road surface.

It is definitely a car set up for comfort rather than cornering ability – but, if it hopes to compete with the premium brands, it’ll need to achieve a good balance between the two.

The B10 isn’t the quietest car, either. Of course, the powertrain is almost silent being all-electric, but at higher speeds, there's quite a lot of wind and tyre noise. Leapmotor says it's soon switching to offering Hankook tyres as standard, rather than the current fellow Chinese-native Linglong brand it uses, so that may improve things.

There are three regenerative braking modes, which are consistent and predictable. Still, frustratingly, they have to be set via the touchscreen, when paddles behind the steering wheel would be more convenient.

One other frustrating feature is that the driving assistance systems are incredibly intrusive, sometimes trying to pull you into line unnecessarily or triggering warnings for simply glancing away from the road ahead.

It is not the only Chinese manufacturer to suffer from over-sensitive systems. Chery – which markets vehicles in the UK under its own brand and its two sub-brands, Omoda and Jaecoo – recently recalibrated its safety features following customer complaints that they were overzealous.

We hope Leapmotor will do the same by working alongside Stellantis to try to refine them.

Charging

The Leapmotor B10 charges at a maximum rate of 168kW.

That means a 30-80% top-up takes just 20 minutes. It sounds fast, but some foes are even quicker - and the marketing ploy is in the figure: most manufacturers list a charging time from 10-80%, so by quoting a lower percentage range, Leapmotor's time looks deceptively quick.

For what it's worth, we've worked out that a 10-80% top-up will take around 28 minutes.

Leapmotor doesn’t quote any other figures, but it'll take somewhere around seven hours to complete a 10-80% top-up via a 7kW home wallbox.

Running Costs & Emissions

Running costs should be low, especially if you can charge it at home and avoid more expensive public charging stations.

What’s more, Leapmotor is the first manufacturer to offer its own electric vehicle grant, called ‘Leap-Grant’, effectively wiping £1,500 off the purchase price of a B10. Yes, we know - you're here to lease - but it's worth noting that the car is very competitively priced for what it is.

Reliability is unknown, given that Leapmotor is a new brand here in the UK. However, a four-year, 60,000-mile warranty is included, while the battery gets an eight-year, 100,000-mile warranty. This at least shows how much confidence the manufacturer has in the B10.

Interior & Technology

The Leapmotor B10 has a very lovely, modern interior. There is a choice of two designs – a traditionally dark ‘shadow grey’, and a brighter ‘light grey’.

The latter is very nice and arguably more appealing, brightening up what would otherwise be a darkened interior. Still, both look pleasing to the eye, thanks to a marriage of good design and high-quality materials.

It is a minimalist design, though, with just about everything controlled via the touchscreen, which floats in front of the dashboard like a tablet.

The 14.6-inch infotainment screen is very nice – everything from the tablet itself to the graphics and menu layout looks like a regular tablet’s operating system. It is nice to use, too, with an intuitive interface and offers plenty of responsiveness to pushes and prods of your fingers and thumbs on its pin-sharp 2.5K HD screen.

Inevitably, in a minimalist cabin, the air conditioning is controlled via the touchscreen and can be a bit fiddly to use on the move.

The smaller 8.8-inch digital instrument cluster behind the steering wheel features equally sharp graphics, including speed, remaining range, battery data and information on safety systems.

There are two spokes on the wheel, which features a slightly flattened bottom, while posh-looking silver air vents sit on either side of the dashboard, with two more vents in the middle underneath the infotainment screen.

While the steering wheel takes up space on the right of the dashboard, the vacant space on the other side is usable, as the dash is hollowed out, providing a large shelf above the glovebox where you can store bits and bobs.

The large centre console is also relatively high up and remains a consistent height all the way along, though it doesn't quite extend as far as the dashboard, so it doesn't directly join on to it.

Inevitably, while most of the materials seem of good quality, some aren’t on the same level as the premium brands, and it lacks the outright executive-level sophistication you'd get in an Audi, BMW or Mercedes-Benz.

Overall, Leapmotor has excelled itself – its interior looks much posher than plenty of more expensive adversaries.

Practicality & Boot Space

The seats in the Leapmotor are very absorbing, providing plenty of support, so getting comfortable is easy.

The B10 gets six-way powered adjustment in the driver’s seat, which makes it easy to find a decent driving position.

In terms of space, you’ll have no issues up front, with lots of headroom and legroom. Plus, there’s a high centre console separating you from a fellow front seat occupant, which should help you avoid competing with them for elbow room.

In the back, it's much the same, with plenty of space for taller passengers, even with the panoramic sunroof in place, which is included as standard.

The boot space in the B10 is 430 litres, which isn't bad, but several competitors can beat it. The Leapmotor has a trick up its sleeve, though, by offering an additional 25 litres of 'frunk' space under the bonnet.

The SUV’s boot capacity expands to 1,700 litres if you fold the rear seats over in a 60:40 split, and the boot is a conveniently square shape, enabling you to maximise your use of the space.

There are also 22 storage places dotted around the cabin, including the hollowed-out dashboard we mentioned earlier, while the glove compartment is a decent size.

Safety

The Leapmotor B10 has yet to be tested by Euro NCAP, the safety experts, but Leapmotor has confirmed that it's been designed with the aim of achieving a five-star rating.

It achieved just that with the larger C10 SUV, which is the only Leapmotor car to be put through its paces so far. That earned 89% for adult occupants, 85% for kids, and 76% for safety assists.

The latter category includes automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, lane centring control, lane keeping assist, lane departure warning, plus front and rear collision warning and blind spot detection.

You also get hands-off-the-wheel detection, rear cross-traffic braking and alert, intelligent speed assist, driver drowsiness and attention warning, advanced driver distraction alert, and traffic jam assist.

That is an impressive amount, but, as we said earlier, some of the systems, particularly the automated warnings, can be far too intrusive and need further refinement for the UK's roads, as other Chinese brands have found.

Options

There are no optional extras for the Leapmotor B10 – everything is thrown in as standard. This is deliberate: Leapmotor aims to make things as simple as possible, which is one of the main reasons there's only one trim level and one powertrain.

You do get a choice of colours, though. Starry Night Blue (a grey-ish blue) is the default colour. Alternatively, a grey-ish purple, light grey, black, silver or white can be selected for a few hundred pounds extra.

There is also a choice of the two interior colours – dark grey or light grey, the latter being included in our test car – although there’s no charge regardless of which one you pick.

Rival Cars

The Leapmotor B10 has several rivals, but the Renault Scenic E-Tech is a serious alternative to lease, along with the Skoda Elroq.

There is also the Omoda E5, as well as its new cousin, the identically named E5 from Omoda’s sister-brand Jaecoo – both are mechanically similar but aimed at a slightly different customer base.

The MG S5, BYD Atto 3, Kia EV3, Ford Explorer, Ford Puma and Renault 4 are also worth having on your car leasing shopping list.

Verdict & Next Steps

The Leapmotor B10 is a very impressive all-electric SUV on paper.

It is highly practical, with a spacious interior; it's comfortable on the move, and it comes with a lovely cabin design that's packed full of technology, all as standard.

Range and charging speeds are good, too, as is the acceleration – so it’s a case of what’s not to like.

However, in terms of delivery, the driving experience simply isn’t a match for some competitors, and its handling is nowhere near the level of premium brands. There is a lot of lean in the corners, not helped by substandard tyres, which we’re pleased will be replaced soon.

The safety systems are far too intrusive, too. That may be a simpler fix than the handling – but the Leapmotor B10 lacks the refinement of some of its rivals, let alone premium brands.

That said, it wins plenty of points for being cheaper and better equipped than most of its challengers.

As a result, where the Leapmotor B10 really wins is in its superb value for money.

Where to next?

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**Score based on Select’s unique meta score analysis, taking into account the UK’s top leading independent car website reviews of the Leapmotor B10