Is Leapmotor profitable in 2026?

Yes, Leapmotor posted its first-ever full-year net profit of RMB 538-540 million on RMB 64.73 billion revenue for FY2025, reported March 16, 2026, versus a RMB 2.82 billion loss in 2024. Gross margin was 14.5% for the year.

Leapmotor is HKEX-listed (ticker 9863). Stellantis holds about 18.99% after being diluted from ~19% when FAW Group bought a 5% stake for RMB 3.744 billion in December 2025. Founder Zhu Jiangming and insiders hold roughly 22.56% combined.

Is Leapmotor's biggest competitor BYD?

BYD is the dominant threat, delivering over 1 million vehicles in Q1 2026 alone (+59% YoY) with a stronger cost curve, actively price-warring the same segment Leapmotor competes in. Domestic peers Nio, XPeng, and Li Auto also pressure margins via 2026 price cuts.

Could AI replace Leapmotor's core product?

No, vehicle manufacturing is largely AI-immune, but Leapmotor's in-car AI moat is weakening: founder Zhu Jiangming abandoned the in-house Lingxin 01 chip in June 2026, shifting flagship models to Qualcomm Snapdragon silicon after concluding in-house chips couldn't scale economically.

Is Leapmotor's relationship with Stellantis solid?

Stellantis owns about 19% of Leapmotor and co-controls the Leapmotor International JV (51% Stellantis, 49% Leapmotor) covering markets outside Greater China, per the October 2023 deal. The FAW Group's December 2025 stake purchase diluted Stellantis slightly, to be monitored for further shifts.

How fast is Leapmotor growing in 2026?

Leapmotor set a delivery record of 93,376 units in June 2026 (+95% YoY) and surpassed 1.5 million cumulative global deliveries that month. Management targets 1 million vehicles and RMB 5 billion net profit for full-year 2026.

Automotive companies · China

Leapmotor

leapmotor.com ↗

Chinese EV maker selling profitable low-cost cars, partnered with Stellantis for exports.

Losing its protection

Assessed 25 July 2026 · Evidence as of 25 July 2026

The structural protection is eroding.

On the recordSince 25 July 2026 · Checkable from H1 2027 earnings report · Every call on the record Checkpoint: H2 2026 gross margin results against management's 15% GM and RMB 5bn profit target

The call

Leapmotor turned its first profit while selling cheap, Qualcomm-powered EVs, but BYD's price war and thin margins leave little room for error.

Leapmotor makes electric cars in China and sells them globally through a partnership with Stellantis, the big European automaker. The company is profitable and growing fast, but makes only about 80 cents of profit on every 100 dollars of sales, and faces constant price cuts from BYD, a much larger competitor with better cost advantages. The real question is whether Leapmotor can push its profit margin higher over the next year or two, because if prices keep falling and costs stay stuck, even a growing company will struggle to stay valuable.

Why

AI pressure: Qualcomm Snapdragon-based autonomous driving stacks. Leapmotor dropped its own Lingxin chip for Qualcomm Snapdragon, so its driving tech is now the same commodity everyone else buys. Could AI do the core job? Only partly.

Bigger players: BYD. BYD outsells Leapmotor many times over and keeps cutting prices, squeezing the thin margin Leapmotor just turned positive. Could a giant copy it? Probably.

What protects it. Cash of RMB 37.8bn plus a Stellantis export deal that gives cheaper access to Europe than rivals get.

What would change this call

Leapmotor's H2 2026 gross margin report versus its 15% target. Shows whether margin gains hold or erode under price-war pressure.
Stellantis Spain joint-production plant confirmed, delayed, or cancelled. Indicates whether Stellantis is deepening or pulling back its commitment.
BYD launches a sub-20,000-euro EU-built model. Would bypass tariffs and undercut Leapmotor's Stellantis-based export edge.

Key numbers

FY2025 net profit RMB 538m, first full-year profit ever (2025-12-31)
Gross margin 14.5% for 2025, up from 8.4% in 2024 (2025-12-31)
596,555 vehicles delivered in 2025, up 103% YoY (2025-12-31)

Named risks

Net margin of just 0.8% (FY2025) leaves little buffer against China's ongoing EV price war. Severity: high
Gross margin could compress below the 14-15% range under sustained price competition. Severity: high
In-car AI/ADAS compute is commoditizing to Qualcomm after Leapmotor abandoned its own Lingxin 01 chip in 2026. Severity: medium
Repeated dilution of Stellantis stake (down to ~18.99% after FAW's Dec 2025 buy-in) could signal weakening JV commitment. Severity: medium
Conflicting headcount figures across sources point to data-quality gaps in third-party reporting on the company. Severity: low

Rivals, as read in July 2026

Rival	Direction	Evidence
BYD	losing to	BYD delivered 1M+ units in Q1 2026 alone (+59% YoY), dwarfing Leapmotor's scale and cost curve
Nio, XPeng, Li Auto	contesting	All cutting prices amid a China EV slowdown as of April 2026 per 36Kr reporting
Geely	contesting	Geely's Galaxy EX5/Starray EM-i directly compared against Leapmotor's B10 in 2026 reviews
XPeng	contesting	Competing in Europe with a software/ADAS-led brand strategy versus Leapmotor's Stellantis-distribution approach as of July 2026

Questions people ask

Is Leapmotor profitable in 2026?: Yes, Leapmotor posted its first-ever full-year net profit of RMB 538-540 million on RMB 64.73 billion revenue for FY2025, reported March 16, 2026, versus a RMB 2.82 billion loss in 2024. Gross margin was 14.5% for the year.
Who owns Leapmotor?: Leapmotor is HKEX-listed (ticker 9863). Stellantis holds about 18.99% after being diluted from ~19% when FAW Group bought a 5% stake for RMB 3.744 billion in December 2025. Founder Zhu Jiangming and insiders hold roughly 22.56% combined.
Is Leapmotor's biggest competitor BYD?: BYD is the dominant threat, delivering over 1 million vehicles in Q1 2026 alone (+59% YoY) with a stronger cost curve, actively price-warring the same segment Leapmotor competes in. Domestic peers Nio, XPeng, and Li Auto also pressure margins via 2026 price cuts.
Could AI replace Leapmotor's core product?: No, vehicle manufacturing is largely AI-immune, but Leapmotor's in-car AI moat is weakening: founder Zhu Jiangming abandoned the in-house Lingxin 01 chip in June 2026, shifting flagship models to Qualcomm Snapdragon silicon after concluding in-house chips couldn't scale economically.
Is Leapmotor's relationship with Stellantis solid?: Stellantis owns about 19% of Leapmotor and co-controls the Leapmotor International JV (51% Stellantis, 49% Leapmotor) covering markets outside Greater China, per the October 2023 deal. The FAW Group's December 2025 stake purchase diluted Stellantis slightly, to be monitored for further shifts.
How fast is Leapmotor growing in 2026?: Leapmotor set a delivery record of 93,376 units in June 2026 (+95% YoY) and surpassed 1.5 million cumulative global deliveries that month. Management targets 1 million vehicles and RMB 5 billion net profit for full-year 2026.

Timeline

2026-07-01Leapmotor sets June 2026 delivery record of 93,376 units, up 95% YoY
2026-06-18Cumulative global deliveries surpass 1.5 million; founder confirms Lingxin 01 chip abandoned
2026-06-08B10 Hybrid EV (REEV) launches in Australia as part of global rollout
2026-03-16Leapmotor reports first-ever full-year profit: RMB 538-540M net on RMB 64.73B revenue
2026-01-06Leapmotor and Qualcomm unveil dual-Snapdragon central computing platform at CES
2025-12-01FAW Group buys 5% Leapmotor stake for RMB 3.744 billion, diluting Stellantis to ~18.99%
2025-03-11Leapmotor launches sub-$18,000 lidar-equipped B10 SUV with Snapdragon chips
2023-10-01Stellantis agrees ~1.5B euro investment for ~19% Leapmotor stake, forms Leapmotor International JV
2022-09-28Leapmotor IPOs on HKEX at HK$48/share, raising HK$6.06B; shares fall 34% on debut

Revision history

25 July 2026

First assessed. Losing its protection. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.

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