Leapmotor has surpassed the 100,000-car monthly delivery threshold for the second month in a row, underscoring just how quickly the Chinese EV maker is moving from start-up status to a global volume player.
The company delivered a record 103,129 vehicles in August, 80.7% more than a year earlier and slightly above July’s 101,267 units. That makes August Leapmotor’s fifth consecutive record month. In the first eight months of 2026, the company delivered 560,883 cars, up 70.6% year-on-year.
One-million-unit target
It remains well short of its one-million-unit target for the full year, however. To get there, Leapmotor still needs roughly 439,000 cars in four months, or almost 110,000 per month. The scale is nevertheless striking when compared with the other Chinese ‘new forces’. XPeng delivered 39,107 vehicles in August, Li Auto 37,679, Nio 35,836, and Xiaomi more than 30,000.
Leapmotor is therefore selling roughly three times as many cars as several brands with which it was routinely compared only a few years ago. It should not, however, be confused with China’s biggest carmakers. BYD sold 440,293 NEVs in August, while SAIC, Chery, and Geely all remained far above Leapmotor in total group sales.
Leapmotor’s claim that it is a ‘Top 3 Chinese brand’ refers to comparable passenger-NEV end-user registrations, not to the overall Chinese car market.
Europe no longer a sideshow
China is still responsible for the large majority of Leapmotor’s volume, but Europe is becoming increasingly relevant. ACEA figures show 56,005 registrations across the EU, EFTA, and UK in the first half of 2026, compared with 8,507 a year earlier: an increase of 558%. June alone accounted for 12,829 cars.
That remains well below BYD’s 174,144 European registrations in the same period or SAIC/MG’s 180,659, but it already puts Leapmotor above established brands, such as Honda and Mitsubishi. International deliveries outside China represented more than 12% of Leapmotor’s global volume in the first half.
The big difference with most Chinese newcomers is Stellantis. The European-American group owns around 21% of Leapmotor and controls 51% of Leapmotor International, which holds exclusive rights to manufacture and sell Leapmotor vehicles outside Greater China. This gives the Chinese brand access to more than 850 European Stellantis sales and service points without having to build an expensive dealer network from scratch.
The cooperation is also becoming industrial. Stellantis and Leapmotor are preparing to produce the B10 SUV in Europe at the Zaragoza plant, potentially starting in 2026, while the partners also plan to share purchasing and Chinese-developed components to cut costs for future European EVs.
Belgium catches up quickly
Belgium illustrates how rapidly the brand is gaining ground. According to the latest FEBIAC figures, 227 Leapmotors were registered in August, compared with just 28 a year earlier, an increase of 711%.
Over the first eight months of 2026, registrations reached 2,281 units, up 377%, giving Leapmotor a 0.79% share of the Belgian new-car market. That puts the newcomer in 25th place, already ahead of Jeep, Porsche, Seat, and XPeng for the year to date. BYD, with 5,726 registrations, and MG, with 6,185, remain substantially larger.
The Netherlands is even further ahead. Leapmotor registered 1,850 cars there in the first half of 2026, equal to 1.1% of the total Dutch passenger-car market and 2.5% of the BEV market. The company says that this made it the best-selling Chinese BEV brand in the country during the period.
