Leapmotor races overseas

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One year ago, Leapmotor entered Hong Kong, and its first step was full of fireworks—it opened its store in a showroom once occupied by Porsche. This time, it is using Hong Kong as a springboard to rapidly expand overseas.

On June 18, 2026, at the AsiaWorld-Expo, Leapmotor Technology Senior Vice President Cao Li stood on stage to announce: Leapmotor has delivered a cumulative total of over 1.5 million vehicles globally; the right-hand drive version of Lafa5 is launching in Hong Kong, with a starting price of HK$249,900.

Leapmotor has sharp insights into the Hong Kong market. Despite a large base of high-net-worth customers, due to the high first-registration tax, the Hong Kong market exhibits characteristics of “price-sensitive consumption.” Leapmotor aims to leverage its “good yet affordable” strategy to seize market share from traditional strong brands like Toyota and replicate its path to success in mainland China.

However, Hong Kong’s annual new car sales are only forty to fifty thousand units, which, for a company selling eighty thousand cars per month, is barely a fraction. Leapmotor founder and chairman Zhu Jiangming previously told Wallstreetcn, “Choosing Hong Kong is not about selling a lot of cars, it’s about brand exposure and all the investors are here.”

In other words, Hong Kong is meant to be seen by the world and by the secondary market.

Cao Li told Wallstreetcn that Leapmotor took 64 months for its first 500,000 units, 12 months for its second 500,000, and only 8 months for its third 500,000.

Leapmotor’s growth curve is getting steeper. This isn’t easy for a newcomer; the Chinese auto market in 2026 is facing its most crowded competitive era in the past decade.

“For the full year’s domestic retail sales, we believe compared to last year, the entire industry should be prepared mentally for a 15%–20% decline.” Recently, at the Chongqing Auto Forum, NIO Chairman Li Bin shared this judgment.

Li Bin believes the Chinese auto industry is entering the most brutal final round from this year. From January to May, domestic retail sales fell 19.5% year-on-year. “In the first quarter, people thought some effects from last year’s policies caused early releases of negative impacts, but after entering April and May, no one in the industry should be holding onto such illusions.”

Over the past decade, the biggest windfall for China’s new energy vehicles stemmed from scale growth. The market expanded from hundreds of thousands to millions, and companies could cover R&D investment through steady growth. But as the industry shifts to stock competition, things have changed.

Smart driving needs investment, big models need investment, chips need investment, adapting to global regulations needs investment, and overseas certification needs investment. R&D expenses are snowballing, while per-vehicle profits keep shrinking.

Against this backdrop, more and more car companies are focusing on overseas markets. This happens to be Leapmotor’s advantage.

With Stellantis backing it, Leapmotor resembles the “ride a ship to sea” strategy common in the internet industry. In May 2026, Leapmotor’s global deliveries exceeded 80,000 units, with more than 20,000 exported overseas, making up nearly a quarter of total sales. In the first five months of this year, Leapmotor exported over 75,000 units, surpassing its entire export total from last year.

In other words, for every four vehicles Leapmotor sells, one comes from overseas markets. Overseas is no longer supplementary, but the second growth engine.

Leapmotor’s most impressive number overseas is in Italy. In this traditional kingdom of fuel cars, Leapmotor’s pure electric models now have over 30% market share. For every three pure EVs sold, one is a Leapmotor.

Italy is Fiat’s hometown, Stellantis’s stronghold, and one of Europe’s most fortified markets against Chinese EVs. Leapmotor has essentially entered the mainstream of a traditional automotive powerhouse.

Such globalization is reshaping Leapmotor’s cost structure. This time, Cao Li specifically mentioned right-hand drive models. To many, developing a right-hand drive version just for Hong Kong might seem excessive. But in Leapmotor’s eyes, right-hand drive cars aren’t exclusive to Hong Kong. One round of R&D can simultaneously cover the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and multiple Southeast Asian countries and regions.

This “careful calculation” also shows in other areas.

In terms of capacity layout, Leapmotor hasn’t built major factories like BYD in Brazil or Hungary, but instead adopts a “Europe + Southeast Asia” dual-core, asset-light model: using Stellantis’s existing capacity in Spain, and targeting zero-tariff incentives in the ASEAN free trade zone through Malaysia and Myanmar. This approach requires low capital expenditure and short cycles but demands extremely strong supply chain management.

In pricing strategy, Lafa5 starts at HK$249,900 in Hong Kong, or about RMB 230,000, which is significantly higher than its anticipated price in mainland China. In Europe, Leapmotor T03 sells at nearly double its domestic price. Overseas customers are willing to pay a premium for Chinese NEVs because there’s a lack of comparable pure electric models, creating a window for Chinese automakers’ profits.

Currently, Leapmotor's gross profit per vehicle in overseas business is likely higher than domestically. As overseas sales climb from today’s under 30%, overall gross margins will be pulled up by overseas operations.

Looking back, there's an external reason for Leapmotor's rush to scale up outbound sales—a window period.

BYD will start massive expansion in Europe and Latin America in 2025, Chery dominates Russia and the Middle East, Geely is heading to Europe through Lynk & Co and Zeekr, Great Wall has established itself in Thailand and Brazil, and SAIC’s MG has deeply cultivated Europe for years. Chinese carmakers going abroad is now routine, not news. The window for Leapmotor to differentiate itself is limited.

In Europe, Leapmotor leveraged Stellantis for a time benefit, but after 2026—when BYD's Hungary factory starts mass production, SAIC builds out capacity in Europe, and Chery’s Spain factory comes online—Leapmotor will face the same intense intra-Chinese competition as in China.

In Southeast Asia, BYD, Great Wall, and Wuling have already built factories; whether Leapmotor’s Myanmar and Malaysia plants can scale before 2027 is unknown. In right-hand drive markets, Lafa5 caught a head start, but the exclusive window is only one or two years.

Therefore, Leapmotor’s task now is not to slowly cultivate the overseas market, but to convert its advantages in systems across 40+ countries and over 2,000 outlets into scale and brand assets that are hard to replicate, in the shortest possible time.

As to whether it can ultimately take the overseas market by storm, only time will tell. But at the very least, it has already avoided the most crowded table.

Risk warning and disclaimerThe market carries risks, and investments should be made cautiously. This article does not constitute personal investment advice and has not considered individual users’ unique investment goals, financial situations, or needs. Users should consider whether any opinions, views, or conclusions in this text fit their specific circumstances. Any investments made based on this are at your own risk. ```