Leapmotor aims to secure more orders from automakers.

Author | Zhou Zhiyu

The technology that Leapmotor developed for its own car manufacturing is being incorporated into new cars from other brands.

On September 17, Zhu Jiangming, chairman of Leapmotor, revealed to Wall Street News that Leapmotor has entered into platform-level cooperation with FAW and Stellantis, with one of the projects with FAW already in mass production. Core components such as battery packs, electric drives, controllers, and headlights can all be developed, manufactured, and supplied to the partners by Leapmotor. "It's a package deal," Zhu Jiangming said.

The day before, Leapmotor announced that its private placement registration application had been approved, with a planned fundraising of approximately 6.744 billion yuan, of which FAW Group intends to participate in the subscription of approximately 3.744 billion yuan. This traditional automotive group is simultaneously advancing investment and technology cooperation with Leapmotor.

Currently, Leapmotor has secured contracts with eight OEMs for its electric drive and power electronic components. According to Zhu Jiangming, platform collaborations can be conducted using Leapmotor's own factories or at the partner's factories, with Leapmotor providing complete sets of core components.

This consolidation in the automotive industry is extending to the R&D end. Some large automotive groups have begun purchasing complete electric vehicle technologies from emerging players, leading to a new division of labor in new vehicle development. While brands still operate independently, electric platforms and core components are being shared across groups. Automakers no longer need to merge into one entity to develop their own new vehicles based on the same underlying technology.

An industry restructuring, not based on brand mergers, is taking place in the automotive industry.

Complete set supply

Leapmotor's external collaborations already cover electric drive, battery, and electronic systems. According to Wall Street Insights, its electric drive and power electronic components have secured contracts from eight OEMs, while its battery and electronic systems have established partnerships with ten and five OEMs, respectively.

The cooperation with FAW and Stellantis extends to the platform level. Zhu Jiangming revealed that the cooperative models can be produced at Leapmotor's factory or at the partner's factory, with Leapmotor providing complete sets of independently developed and manufactured core components.

Zhu Jiangming provided a calculation: providing core electric vehicle components as a complete set offers a cost advantage of approximately 1,000 to 2,000 yuan compared to customers choosing multiple suppliers separately, and also shortens the matching time between systems.

Before batteries, electric drives, and controllers can be integrated into the same vehicle, they need to be tested and validated together. Adjustments to one system may require changes to others. Leapmotor hopes to apply the integration work it has done on its own models to collaborative projects, reducing the workload for customers in terms of redevelopment and coordination.

This division of labor has been operating within Leapmotor for many years. The four product lines—vehicle, electronics, battery, and electric drive—each are responsible for the entire process from development to manufacturing, quality control, and delivery. When working on vehicle projects, teams are formed by drawing personnel from different product lines. Zhu Jiangming specifically mentioned that the vehicle product line does not have a separate team of electronics and electrical engineers; related work is handled by the electronics product line.

Each product line is also responsible for delivering products to the factory production line. According to data disclosed by Leapmotor, the company has built 18 parts factories, and its self-developed R&D and manufacturing capabilities cover approximately 65% of the total vehicle cost.

The LEAP 5.0 architecture, released on September 16th, showcases Leapmotor's continued approach to system integration. Designs such as integrated air conditioning, rear-mounted powertrain, a flat low floor, and a native pop-up roof all contribute to freeing up cabin space. Zhu Jiangming revealed that the second-brand products using this new architecture are planned to debut and begin deliveries in the fourth quarter of 2027.

Among these improvements, the thermal management solution reorganized the previously fragmented system. Leapmotor stated that the number of related components has been reduced from 69 to 21. Senior Vice President Cao Li explained that while fewer components mean more complex control, it requires unified allocation of heat from systems such as the battery and electric drive, necessitating the involvement of multiple product lines in the development process.

The vehicle's electronic architecture is also being adjusted. The Quadrifoglio 5.0 adopts a 48V power supply and Ethernet communication throughout the vehicle, with centralized decision-making by the central domain controller and execution by other domain controllers; the AgentOS cloud will handle latency-sensitive tasks on the vehicle side, while more complex calculations will be handled by the cloud.

The integration of the battery system involves high and low voltage power supply. The CTC3.0 high and low voltage integrated battery incorporates the previously independently located low-voltage battery section into the power battery pack area, using the same specification cells and sharing thermal management. Senior Vice President Song Yining explained that the 12V low-voltage power supply function is still retained, while the high and low voltage remain two independent power supplies, and the safety redundancy function remains unchanged. Leapmotor also announced that it is opening up relevant patents to the industry.

In terms of powertrain, Leapmotor has added the MM-i multi-mode hybrid electric drive system. This system allows the generator to participate in driving when needed, supporting pure electric, series, parallel, and engine direct drive modes. It also reduces lateral dimensions through a coaxially integrated dual electromagnetic clutch compression system. Leapmotor claims this solution is suitable for A0 to D-class vehicles.

Zhu Jiangming revealed that the hybrid production line has been completed, mainly targeting overseas markets. In his view, charging infrastructure in some markets is still inadequate, while users have long-distance travel needs, leaving room for the application of direct-drive plug-in hybrids.

The software also needs to be adapted to different hardware. The newly released LWM world model-assisted driving system works in conjunction with the cloud model and the vehicle model, and can be deployed on different computing platforms. Leapmotor promises to provide free upgrades for older LiDAR-equipped models. Zhu Jiangming mentioned that because earlier models used different chips, the new algorithm still needs to be re-ported and tested.

Major automakers are recalculating their accounts.

Leapmotor is expanding its supply range, and major automotive groups are also rearranging their new car development.

In May of this year, Opel, a subsidiary of Stellantis, announced a plan to collaborate with Leapmotor to develop a pure electric C-segment SUV. The new vehicle is planned to utilize core components and battery technology from Leapmotor's electric architecture. Opel anticipates that the collaboration will keep the development cycle under two years, with the new vehicle launching as early as 2028.

Opel aims to launch new models faster, while Stellantis seeks to improve the utilization rate of its existing factories. Its management disclosed at its investor day in May that European industrial capacity utilization was around 60% at the time. Expanding industrial cooperation with Leapmotor and sharing some production resources is one of the group's arrangements to improve cost competitiveness and capacity utilization.

Each platform requires its own development, testing, and production lines, with the costs borne by its respective vehicle model. Even with a large overall sales volume for a group, the scale allocated to each technology may still be limited.

Developing a new platform in-house requires waiting for research and development and verification to be completed. Opel's announced cooperation plan combines the use of existing technologies with shortening the development cycle. The group's existing production network can still handle manufacturing, while some electrification technologies will be introduced from external solutions.

FAW's recent cooperative activities are not limited to Leapmotor.

On September 14, GAC Group and FAW Group signed a letter of intent to acquire a portion of the equity in a joint venture vehicle manufacturer held by FAW through a share issuance and to raise supporting funds. According to preliminary calculations, FAW Group will become GAC Group's second-largest shareholder upon completion of the transaction.

According to Wall Street News, the two sides will have further collaborations in areas such as joint procurement and shared research and development.

Leapmotor's platform collaboration with FAW has already reached mass production. Customers directly purchase a set of pre-matched core components, reducing system integration and the need to coordinate with several suppliers. For Leapmotor, these orders expand the scope of its existing R&D and manufacturing achievements.

Suppliers need more models to spread the investment, while buyers hope to reduce redundant development and accelerate the launch of new cars, thus the cooperation yields a return that both parties can calculate.

Integration doesn't have to wait until merger.

When announcing the collaboration plan, Opel also clearly stated the roles it would retain: design, interior experience, chassis engineering, and lighting and seat technology. Leapmotor will provide some of the architecture and core components, but Opel will still have to decide the final product characteristics of the car.

This collaborative concept allows the brand the space to create different products. Opel can reduce some of the underlying system development, but still needs to invest in design and engineering teams to adapt the purchased technology into its own cars. Using similar core components, the final space, driving experience, and user experience can still differ.

Leapmotor itself is also defining the scope of self-developed, self-manufactured, and procured products.

"We can't have 100% of it in-house," Zhu Jiangming said on September 17. Even with batteries, Leapmotor will maintain both in-house production and external supply. He explained that relying entirely on its own production capacity would make it difficult to cope with fluctuations in demand.

An automaker can provide technology to its peers while continuing to purchase from other suppliers. While it has accumulated marketable capabilities through full-stack in-house development, the production process still requires choices based on cost and capacity. The roles of OEM and supplier overlap in these types of companies.

For this division of labor to expand, the technology needs to be reusable across different projects. When discussing Leapmotor's battery cell strategy, Song Yining emphasized standardization: Leapmotor is deeply involved in the research and development of customized battery cells, which are planned to be used in multiple of its own models to reduce frequent adjustments to the production line.

The same requirements apply to supplying other automakers. If a large number of custom parts have to be remade for each project, the engineering costs will still increase. Maintaining sufficient shared designs is essential to ensure that orders from different brands can support the same R&D and manufacturing processes.

As platform-level collaborations expand, the division of labor in R&D will become more in-depth. Some engineering teams will develop shared systems for multiple brands, while others will focus on integration and tuning for specific vehicle models. Technology providers need to continuously iterate and adapt to different customers; automakers adopting the platform must differentiate their products in ways that are perceptible to users.

Brands still target individual consumers, while shared platforms and core components connect new car projects across different groups. By concentrating R&D and manufacturing resources and retaining their respective product characteristics, consolidation in the automotive industry can begin with each new car.

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