Setting Sail with a Partner, Aiming for a Million: Leapmotor Lands in South America via Brazil and Chile

Insights
Setting Sail with a Partner, Aiming for a Million: Leapmotor Lands in South America via Brazil and Chile

Core Data/Events

  • South American Debut: Leapmotor officially entered South America, with Brazil and Chile as its first stops, debuting at the São Paulo Auto Show.

  • Channel Expansion Plan: Leveraging shareholder Stellantis’ established network, it plans to set up 36 outlets across 27 Brazilian cities and 5 in Chile within 2025.

  • Sales & Targets: Overseas sales reached 44,000 units from Jan-Oct 2025, leading Chinese EV startup exports. The company has already achieved its 500,000-unit annual global sales target ahead of schedule and aims for 1 million units in 2026.

In-Depth Analysis

  • Asset-Light Globalization Model: Leveraging Stellantis’ Network，Rather than building its own channels, Leapmotor fully utilizes Stellantis’ established sales and after-sales network, drastically reducing the time, capital, and operational risks of market entry. This validates a key advantage of their JV model (49:51 stake)—sharing global network resources.

  • Product Strategy: EREV as a Solution to Infrastructure Gaps，In South America’s underdeveloped charging landscape, launching the C10 EREV version directly addresses range anxiety. This demonstrates flexible product planning, using a dual-track BEV & EREV strategy to adapt to diverse markets.

Industry Insights

  • The Leapmotor-Stellantis partnership offers a new blueprint: “trading technology for market access, equity for channels.” In a capital-intensive industry, leveraging a partner’s localized resources can be more efficient and less risky than independent expansion.

  • Evaluating companies like Leapmotor requires looking beyond products to their “ecosystem collaboration capability” and “global resource integration efficiency.” Their ability to convert Stellantis’ network advantage into sustained sales and brand power is a key future indicator.

  • Automakers’ soaring overseas targets will drive supply chain globalization. Suppliers specializing in localized technologies like EREV systems will find new opportunities.

In markets like South America with underdeveloped charging infrastructure, will EREVs have a longer market window than BEVs?

Leapmotor Stellantis SouthAmericaMarket AutoGlobalization NewEnergyVehicle EREV MillionUnitGoal

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