Valentino Debis, a professional rider in the World Superbike Championship (WSBK), made a name for himself at a young age. His career has been quite bumpy. Early on, due to a lack of sufficient funding support, he could only participate in lower-level events for a long time as a substitute rider or wildcard. Fortunately, Debis did not give up and continued to chase his racing dreams, winning his first WSBK championship trophy only at 33 years old. This year, he joined Zhang Xue Motorcycle, ushering in a major career explosion. He has already secured six round championships this season and is also well-known to many Chinese netizens.

Joining Forces with Champion Riders, From Leapmotor to the World

The Debis who was once not looked favorably upon, waited nearly 10 years in WSBK to win a championship. Just like Zhang Xue himself, he chases his dreams and sticks to his direction, moving forward even if stumbling, until he becomes famous worldwide. Leapmotor Cars is the same. Once mocked by others, after working hard to build cars for 10 years, they have now become the sales champion among China's new forces, and also stood on the broader world stage.

Recently, Leapmotor Cars officially announced Debis as the first European owner of the Leapmotor Lafa5. The slogan on the poster is "From Leapmotor to the World", which indeed fits the current positive state of both Leapmotor Cars and Debis. Leapmotor was able to stand out from many new forces, not only because the product positioning is accurate, achieving tech equality through extreme cost-performance, but also because marketing positioning is very precise. For example, the Leapmotor Lafa5 which welcomed Debis, the first European owner, is an electric hot hatchback, full of fashion and dynamism, allowing people to enjoy the joy of passionate driving, complementing the image of champion racer Debis.

Precision Marketing, Leapmotor Also Has Chen Duling and Fei Xiang as Spokespersons

Previously, Leapmotor Cars also announced Chen Duling as the spokesperson for the A series and Fei Xiang as the spokesperson for the D series. Leapmotor collaborated with Chen Duling's new drama "Outstanding" for creative marketing, shaping the image of Leapmotor A10 as a young and fashionable leader among cars. The entry-level price of over 60,000 is also very friendly to young customer groups.

Fei Xiang, 1.91 meters tall, is mature and elegant. Sitting in the zero-gravity seats of Leapmotor flagship SUV D19, he interpreted "Land First Class Cabin" with his personal experience as the first owner. Leapmotor hopes consumers can feel the charm of this flagship SUV from Fei Xiang's style and temperament, with class-leading luxury quality and a relatively accessible price that gives a sense of calm, without creating too much pressure on daily life.

Pushing Overseas Markets, Rushing Towards the Global Path

In the just-passed month of May, Leapmotor Cars delivered over 81,000 new cars. They ranked first among new forces and also set a new brand monthly sales record. For the first 5 months of this year, Leapmotor's cumulative sales were about 263,000 units, a 49.6% year-on-year increase. At the same time, Leapmotor Cars is actively expanding overseas markets. In 2025, with 67,000 units, they topped the Chinese new forces overseas sales champion. In the first quarter of this year, exports exceeded 40,000 units. In May, Italy's single-month registration was 4,765 units, with a pure electric market share of 34.5%. Recently, the company's main model, Leapmotor C10, officially started localized assembly production at the Gurun, Kedah, Malaysia factory, marking further implementation of Leapmotor's overseas manufacturing system.

Leapmotor Cars started from zero and rapidly grew to become the sales leader among China's new forces. In the first two years, partnering with the world's fourth-largest automotive group, they established the Leapmotor International Joint Venture Company, becoming an electric choice in Europe, Southeast Asia, and many other regions. Now, Leapmotor Cars joined hands with Debis. On one hand, this can leverage the champion racer's influence in Europe to improve overseas awareness. On the other hand, it shows their attitude. Leapmotor does not only want to be the sales champion among China's new forces, but also wants to run to the peak of the world.

【Lead: On May 16, 200,000 Leapmotor older vehicles received free city pilot assist overnight; on May 18, the MPV D99 interior was unveiled, beginning to advance into the high-end market. When competitors are still dividing classes using intelligent driving and configurations, Leapmotor chooses to make them standard equipment. After monthly sales of 70,000, the question is no longer "how many can be sold", but "is the ceiling high enough".】

Author: Cai Yan

Although sales rank at the top among new forces, Leapmotor reported a loss of 390 million yuan in the first quarter, making the goal of achieving 5 billion yuan net profit this year much harder to reach. When the A10 becomes popular, D99 aims for the high-end, and the second brand is ready to launch, this car company that started relying on "cost-performance" has achieved rapid scale expansion but encountered a bottleneck in profits, and it is working hard to change the situation.

▲ Leapmotor rises to the first echelon relying on independent research and development technology

From "Cost-Performance Catfish" to "Head Goose of New Forces"

Four years ago, Leapmotor was still in the stage of "monthly sales of thousands of units", with attention and volume far less than "NIO, Xpeng, and Li Auto". The arrival of the turning point was much faster than the industry anticipated. In 2025, Leapmotor delivered 596,600 vehicles for the whole year, topping the annual sales list of domestic new force car makers; in the first quarter of 2026, it delivered 110,200 vehicles, ranking first among new forces again; in April alone, monthly sales exceeded 70,000 units, setting a new brand historical record.

▲ Leapmotor's April monthly delivery volume exceeded 70,000 units

Whole-domain independent research is the origin of all Leapmotor stories. Currently, Leapmotor has established 17 parts factories, with the ratio of self-developed and self-made accounting for 65% of total vehicle costs, covering core links such as electronic control modules, lamp controllers, intelligent driving chips, and electric drive systems. With 65% of the total vehicle cost controlled in its own hands, this vertical integration capability means that when the industry is generally constrained by supplier price hikes, Leapmotor can hold the cost initiative in its own hands; when competitors are still using third-party intelligent driving solutions, Leapmotor is already able to push the nationwide city pilot assist function for free to 200,000 older car owners and promises permanent free usage. This major OTA on May 16 pushed urban main roads, elevated roads, roundabouts, and other all-scenario city pilot assist capabilities to the old B series, Lafa5, and 2026 C series LiDAR version models. Leapmotor proved one thing with actions: Intelligent driving is not a "selling point" for new cars, but an "entitled right" for old users.

At the same time, Leapmotor's channel strategy and product strategy formed an exquisite cooperation. As of January this year, Leapmotor's domestic sales and service outlets exceeded 1,000, covering 295 cities. But unlike the practice of traditional car companies concentrating stores in first-tier cities, Leapmotor's channels are highly "sunk" to fifth-tier cities. The sinking market is not Leapmotor's "supplementary channel", but Leapmotor's basic plate. This "surrounding cities by villages" approach has allowed Leapmotor to establish user cognition and channel barriers early in areas where mainstream new forces have not yet reached.

From the product level, Leapmotor has built a complete product ladder from the A platform to the D platform. The A10 is priced at 65,800 - 86,800 yuan, yet pulls hardcore configurations such as LiDAR, spot-to-spot pilot assist, and Qualcomm dual flagship chips into the market under 100,000 yuan. Market response was extremely enthusiastic, daily production capacity has reached the level of thousands of units, entering the "Daily Thousand Club" that only a few hit products like Tesla Model Y have reached. The other end is the first mid-to-large MPV D99, positioned as technological luxury, equipped with dual 8797 chips, 1280 TOPS assisted driving computing power, 800V high-voltage platform, second-row seats support rotation function. Quickly attracted industry attention after the interior release. One end is entry-level ultimate cost-performance, one end is brand bearing towards high-end breakthrough, the middle relies on C and B series to form a stable basic plate — this "blossoming at both ends, supporting in the middle" matrix structure is the structural support for Leapmotor to break through 70,000 units in a single month.

▲ Leapmotor A10 brings high-end configurations down to the 100,000 yuan level market

Competition Intensifies, Can Leapmotor Sales Continue to Rise?

In 2026, the elimination competition in the automotive industry intensified, Leapmotor founder Zhu Jiangming straightly said "There is no future without scale".

However, the current awkward situation for Leapmotor is that volume increases but profit decreases. Its Q1 revenue was 10.82 billion yuan, delivered 110,200 vehicles, overseas sales 40,900 vehicles, year-on-year growth of 442%, accounting for 37.1% of total sales, setting a new historical record. Affected by the increased proportion of low-price models, the gross profit margin dropped sharply from 14.9% in the same period last year to 9.4%, net loss 390 million yuan. However, management maintains Q2 guidance of 240,000-250,000 vehicles, annual sales 1 million vehicles and 5 billion yuan net profit target unchanged. Behind it is the confidence in product rhythm — A10 daily production capacity will reach over 1,000 units, May expected 26,000 units, June aiming for 30,000 units; The D99 about to be pre-sold is positioned as a 300,000 yuan level technological luxury MPV, extended range version equipped with 800V high-voltage platform, pure electric version equipped with 1000V high-voltage platform, and equipped with dual 8797 chips, will become a new growth pole.

Secondly, the launch of the second brand opens up new space. Leapmotor Vice President Li Tengfei confirmed at the Q1 financial report meeting that the new brand will debut as early as the end of 2026 or 2027, expected to launch in mid-2027, aiming at the 300,000 yuan and above high-end market, adopting an independent sales network, helping Leapmotor transform from "sales champion" to "full-spectrum giant".

Furthermore, supply chain independence and global layout are the moat. Whole-domain self-research covers 65% of total vehicle costs, especially valuable against the background of shortages in components such as memory. Leapmotor International has already covered 35 countries, 2026 export target 100,000-150,000 vehicles, promoting localized production of factories in Spain and Malaysia, overseas business has already turned a profit. Leapmotor's true ceiling is not in the delivery numbers, but in whether it can continuously build a "Technology-Product-Brand" positive cycle. The May 16 OTA pushed city pilot assist for free to 200,000 older cars, covering B series, Lafa5, and 2026 C series LiDAR models, achieving nationwide opening (2024 C series LiDAR version will follow in the third quarter); meanwhile, Leapmotor plans to achieve "spot-to-spot" high-level intelligent driving push in the third quarter, intelligent driving team over 700 people, training servers nearly 600 units, achieving full-chain self-research. Converting whole-domain self-research into OTA push, stunning products, and cost pricing, "Good but not expensive" is indeed the deepest moat, Leapmotor's ceiling is far from arriving.

▲ Leapmotor D99 attacks the high-end market

Comment

Leapmotor's immediate task is not about sales, but whether it can find a balance pivot between the original intention of "Good but not expensive" and brand upward, especially against the background of turning from profit to loss in the first quarter and a sharp drop in gross profit margin. When the second brand aims for the market above 300,000 yuan, the underlying capabilities of whole-domain self-research will undergo more severe premium testing. Breaking this hurdle, Leapmotor can truly evolve from "sales champion" to "value benchmark".

(This article is original to "Heyuan Yueche", unauthorized reproduction is prohibited)