Leapmotor's chairman and Stellantis CEO will appear together at a joint press conference next week, where they will jointly announce the formation of Leapmotor International, according to local media.
(Image credit: CnEVPost)
A joint venture between Chinese electric vehicle (EV) company Leapmotor and Stellantis NV, Europe's second-largest automaker by sales, is coming soon, after the two reached an agreement last October.
Leapmotor chairman Zhu Jiangming and Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares will appear together at a joint press conference next week, where they will jointly announce the formation of Leapmotor International, a report in local media Cailian said today.
Leapmotor said on October 26, 2023, that Stellantis would invest 1.5 billion euros ($1.6 billion) in it for a roughly 20 percent stake, making the European auto giant the largest outside shareholder in it.
The two companies planned to form Leapmotor International, which would leverage Stellantis' global resources to accelerate and expand sales of Leapmotor's products globally, Leapmotor said in an announcement at the time.
Stellantis would own 51 percent of the joint venture, with Leapmotor holding the other 49 percent.
The joint venture will have the exclusive right to export and sell to all markets worldwide except Greater China, as well as the exclusive right to manufacture Leapmotor products locally.
On March 6, Leapmotor said on Weibo that Leapmotor International had established its executive team and shared several images of the team.
Also on March 6, Reuters reported that Leapmotor's proposed joint venture with Stellantis had received approval from Chinese regulators.
On March 22, Reuters said in another report that Leapmotor would begin production of small EVs at a Stellantis plant in Poland.
Production of the Leapmotor T03 compact car will begin as early as the second quarter of this year, using so-called semi-knocked-down (SKD) technology, which involves turning partially-assembled kits into finished vehicles, a person familiar with the matter said, according to the report.
Leapmotor delivered 15,005 vehicles in April, an increase of 71.96 percent year-on-year and up 3.01 percent from March, according to data it released on May 1.
At the end of April, Leapmotor had delivered 354,239 vehicles since its inception.
($1 = EUR 0.9307)
