Leapmotor Australia has made the claim that it is the ‘most European of the Chinese brands’ by retaining chassis balance and rear-wheel drive layouts in its cars.
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Following the launch of Leapmotor’s second model in Australia, the B10, Stellantis, the subsidiary company that owns 51 per cent of Leapmotor International, has claimed that its SUVs feel the most ‘European’ of Chinese models.
“I hope you will agree after [Driving the B10] that the car and all Leapmotor products feel the most European of the Chinese SUVs,” said Rick Crichton, Senior Product Manager at Stellantis Australia.
When asked further what it means to be the most European, Crichton cited construction and chassis development for the Leapmotor products.
“Things like the rear-wheel drive architecture, certainly from a dynamism point of view, that sets us apart from the pack. Particularly when we're talking about small SUVs, 50:50 weight distribution is a really important claim to fame for us.”
The chassis for the rear-wheel drive Leapmotor B10 was partly developed in collaboration with the Stellantis Manufacturing Company, which also owns brands such as Alfa Romeo, Jeep, Fiat, and Maserati.
“50:50 front and rear weight distribution is certainly a claim to fame that a lot of Europeans would hang their hat on,” stated Crichton.
The idea of splitting the weight evenly across the length of the car is something that cars such as the Mazda MX-5, Honda S2000, some BMW 3 series models, and even the VE Holden Commodore have as an engineering selling point.
The B10, which is currently on sale in Australia starting at $37,888 plus on-road costs, has a tare mass of 1780kg contained within a small SUV chassis.
Power figures of 160kW and 240Nm don’t make it the sportiest vehicle on the market, but despite this, Stellantis says that handling has been of large importance to maintain the ‘European feel’.
“[European feel] is going to mean a refined drive experience, particularly suspension feel, suspension damping, things like body roll around corners, the way the car feels planted on the road,” said Crichton.
“You don't get those, you know, awkward shutters or vibrations from a car that may not have had such extensive work done to it prior to launch.”
While the B10 is only the second model to arrive on Australian shores, Leapmotor has confirmed the B05, which utilises the same chassis as the B10 and a rear-wheel drive layout.
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Zane Dobie comes from a background of motorcycle journalism, working for notable titles such as Australian Motorcycle News Magazine, Just Bikes and BikeReview. Despite his fresh age, Zane brings a lifetime of racing and hands-on experience. His passion now resides on four wheels as an avid car collector, restorer, drift car pilot and weekend go-kart racer.
