Leapmotor has landed in the UK with its sub-£16k, all-electric rival to the Dacia Spring – Top Gear

Earlier this year when the Dacia Spring landed, it felt like the electric car market finally had a cheap, usable entry point. The Chinese weren’t far behind, as it turns out.

Backed by Stellantis, Hangzhou-based Leapmotor is set to land in the UK later this year with a shiny new pair of EVs: the T03 and the C10. And, you guessed it, competitive pricing is the hook.

The T03 will start at £15,995, and it’s a simple, five-door, four-seat compact city car that’s comparable in size to the Kia Picanto. In fact, the only real option you have is what exterior paint finish you’re after. See? Simple.

Power is provided by a 94bhp/117lb ft single electric motor that’s paired with a 37.3kWh battery. That’s good for a claimed 165 miles of range and a 80 per cent recharge in around 36 minutes. Or you can use the 6.6kW on-board charger from home to replenish the battery, if you fancy rewatching the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Design-wise it’s about as simple as a pebble wearing a checked shirt. There’s a basic two-tone paint-scheme and mildly interesting 15in petal-spoked alloys, with LED lights at either end. Cutesy, to say the least.

Things are a little more detailed inside, where customers will get a panoramic sunroof, 10in infotainment screen, eight-inch instrument cluster and, wait for it, electric windows all around. It really does say that.

Leapmotor hasn’t skimped out on tech. There’s a multifunction steering wheel paired up with Bluetooth connectivity and voice control – the latter will be especially important to stop your most disliked radio presenters from yapping too much.

And then there’s the safety suite, which combines up to 10 different ADAS functions, including lane departure bings and forward collision bongs, with a clever facial recognition camera to keep you alert. Over-the-air updates are also woven in, while vehicle pre-heating is done using a dedicated app.

Quite the sales brief for the UK’s latest manufacturer’s opening act, we’d say. As an alternative, Leapmotor is also bringing its C10 SUV over. It starts from £36,500, and is comparable in both size and price to a base level Skoda Enyaq.

As expected, the mechanical stats are bumped up slightly from the T03; it’s still a single electric motor, albeit now with 215bhp and 236lb ft. The battery size has also been increased to 69.9kWh, which means 262 miles of claimed range and a 30-minute recharge time at a public DC stall.

Looks handsome too. There’s a dumbbell-shaped grille out front and roof bars up top, with bumps protruding out of that meaty shape to give it some proper on-road presence.

Moving inside, headline acts include a 14.6in infotainment touchscreen, a 10.25in instrument cluster and a 12-speaker audio system with up to 840 volts of power. The safety system also hikes up to 17 functions, and incorporates a 360-degree camera for easier parking.

Final key points here include ambient lighting, several charging points for devices and even more cubbyholes for storage. That’s great, but you know what isn’t? The 435-litre boot capacity. That’s around 150 litres less than the Enyaq with the seats up, and even worse, 290 with the seats down. Eeek.

Anyway, both the T03 and the C10 will land in November, with Leapmotor confirming one new model will subsequently follow each year for the next three years.

Reckon China’s latest electric car contingent is enough to pique your interest?