FAW acquires 5% of Leapmotor's capital
- Chinese carmaker FAW, which assembles Volkswagen vehicles in its Chinese factories and owns the premium brand Hongqi (currently boasting 17 different models), will acquire a 5% stake in its compatriot Leapmotor, a company specializing in battery electric vehicles. Stellantis already owns 20% of Leapmotor.
- FAW and Leapmotor may collaborate on the design of future models. This initiative could also be viewed as a strategy to balance the shareholders between Chinese and non-Chinese, which will allow Leapmotor to consolidate the position of a small but rapidly growing carmaker. Leapmotor produced 536,000 cars in China during the first 11 months of 2025, double the volume of the first 11 months of 2024, making it one of the most dynamic Chinese carmakers. Leapmotor also aims to sell one million cars in 2026, doubling its 2025 volume once again, and is targeting four million cars sold by 2035—the same as BYD's current production, with 10% of those sales expected to be outside of China.
- These figures are extremely ambitious, but BYD has become the world's fifth largest car carmaker in just a few years.
- Leapmotor, which already has seven models on the Chinese market (the A-segment T03 sedan, the C-segment B01 sedan, the D-segment C01 sedan, the C-segment B10 SUV, the D-segment C10 SUV, the D-segment C11 SUV, and the D-segment C16 SUV), has announced the launch next year of two new models: the D19 SUV and the D99 minivan. These will become the brand's most expensive models, thus targeting premium brands for the first time.