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By Jonathan Crouch

The Leapmotor B10 is a compact electric SUV that could hardly be more important to its Chinese brand. Jonathan Crouch takes a look.

Ten Second Reviewword count: 64

The B10 is the model Leapmotor expects to be its strongest seller, a compact electric crossover that delivers everything you'd expect of a Chinese brand contender in this class. So it's well equipped, spacious and quite smart to look at. The battery stuff (like range and charging) is class-competitive. But, as with most Oriental EVs, there are things you'll have to get used to.

Backgroundword count: 127

In theory, Leapmotor ought to be the most European-feeling of all the Chinese car makers. It is after all part-owned by European giant Stellantis and sells through that conglomerate's dealerships. And Stellantis engineers help tailor Leapmotor's models for our continent's roads and customer tastes on this side of the globe. They've certainly had a hand in the final version of this car, the Leapmotor B10. Like nearly all Leapmotor models, it's an EV, slotting into the company's line-up just above the T03 city car and just below the C10 lower mid-sized SUV. And gives the brand the volume sales contender it needs in the core part of the compact EV crossover market against cars like the Skoda Elroq, the Renault 4 E-Tech and the Ford Puma GEN-E.

Driving Experienceword count: 316

There was no reason for Leapmotor to do much re-engineering of the larger C10 EV model's drivetrain and it hasn't - though this B10's 67.1kWh battery is slightly smaller. Nevertheless, drive range is a reasonable 270 miles. Europe gets a version with a smaller 56.2kWh battery, but that struggles to reach 200 miles, which Leapmotor rightly thinks 'isn't acceptable' for the UK. The version we do get here has the same 216bhp motor as the C10 which (unlike most of its non-VW Group rivals) the Chinese maker chooses to mount at the rear. 0-62mph takes 8s en route to 108mph. There are no other full-EV drivetrain variants. Like the C10, this B10 will also get the alternative of an 'REEV' range extender combustion version and we'd be tempted to wait for that. If (as is likely) the same drivetrain is replicated as is used in the C10 REEV, it will see a 1.5-litre petrol generator unit paired with a 28.4kWh battery capable of around 90 miles of EV range - and up to around 600 miles between stops once the combustion element is factored in. Our focus here though, is on the B10 EV, which despite almost perfect 50:50 weight distribution has unremarkable drive dynamics - but excellent cruising refinement. There are three drive modes - 'Comfort', 'Standard' and 'Sport' - which tweak throttle response and steering feel to small degrees. There are three levels of brake regen, but even the fiercest won't slow the car as abruptly off-throttle as the 'one-pedal' systems used by some obvious rivals. As with the C10, a greater issue is the over-intrusive nature of the many ADAS systems; it's fortunate that you can disable many of them with a provided shortcut button on the steering wheel. Chinese makers really should be better at this sort of thing by now. Around town, the rear-driven format aids an ultra-tight 10.7-metre turning circle.

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