Stellantis to pick up 20% stake in Leapmotor for 1.5 billion euros
European auto major Stellantis has announced that it plans to invest around 1.5 billion euros to acquire approximately 20 percent stake in Leapmotor. This agreement with Leapmotor will make Stellantis a significant shareholder in the company.
The deal also outlines the formation of Leapmotor International, a 51/49 Stellantis-led joint venture that has exclusive rights for the export and sale, as well as manufacturing, of Leapmotor products outside China. This will be an industry-first global electric vehicle relationship between a leading automaker and a Chinese pure-play electric vehicle manufacturer.
Stellantis says it intends to leverage Leapmotor’s innovative, cost-efficient EV ecosystem in China to help meet core Dare Forward 2030 electrification targets, with the possibility to further explore mutually beneficial synergies. The joint venture expects to begin shipments in the second half of 2024.
As part of the understanding, Stellantis will get two seats on Leapmotor’s Board of Directors and will appoint the CEO of the Leapmotor International joint venture.
Carlos Tavares, CEO, Stellantis said, “As consolidation unfolds among the capable electric vehicles start-ups in China, it becomes increasingly apparent that a handful of efficient and agile new generation EV players, like Leapmotor, will come to dominate the mainstream segments in China. We feel it’s the perfect time to take a leading role in supporting the global expansion plans of Leapmotor, one of the most impressive new EV players who has a similar tech-first, entrepreneurial mindset to ours. Through this strategic investment, we can address a white space in our business model and benefit from Leapmotor’s competitiveness both in China and abroad.”
Zhu Jiangming, Founder & CEO, Leapmotor said, “Developed with our in-house, full-suite technology capabilities, Leapmotor brings to the market the best-in-class EV products in a most cost competitive way. We believe in win-win partnerships formed by strong players in the fast-evolving environment. Working with Stellantis, we will continue to be innovative and creative in technology and business synergies and will bring Leapmotor EV cars to the global market.”
Leapmotor is said to have delivered approximately 111,000 electric vehicle units in 2022, putting it into the first tier among China’s NEV pure-play automakers. In the next three years, Leapmotor’s product plan is expected to cover the full range of A- to-E segments, based on one technical architecture with three highly scalable platforms with BEV and Range Extender EV powertrains.
It is said that Leapmotor was the world’s first pure-play EV company to implementCell-to-Chassis technologyon a large scale, and its ‘Four-Leaf Clover’ Leap 3.0 central-controlled new electric and electronic architecture achieves seamless and efficient collaboration within the core components of smart EVs.
