First shipment of Chinese vehicles on the way to Europe

Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares has revealed that “hundreds” of Leapmotor cars are en route to Europe, in the run-up to Leapmotor International’s launch in September.  

He said that the first shipment of 800 cars were on the way from China.

During Stellantis’ H1 2024 results call, Mr Tavares also said that the firm has already decided on several vehicle assembly plants in Europe and this “is already being executed.” He did not disclose the countries or locations of these plants.

He has previously been careful on answering questions over which European plants would be selected to put together Leapmotor products. Earlier this year at a Leapmotor and Stellantis press conference, he said: “We are creating bubbles on one region [and] another region, to close the market. In those bubbles, let’s think about the strategy: that we always have plans outside of the bubbles.”

Stellantis’ Tavares and his delicate Leapmotor balancing act

Asked at the time of the Stellantis-Leapmotor press conference about European production and what would happen if tariffs would be raised by the EU, Tavares previously said: “We will have to demonstrate local manufacturing is a better business case than the exports out of China – we will compare the two scenarios.”

Leapmotor International is the 49/51 Stellantis-Leapmotor JV, created to promote the Leapmotor brand outside of China, with the vehicles being sold through Stellantis retailers.