It’s Essential for Hitting One Million Sales

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Author｜Wang Lei

Editor｜Qin Zhangyong

Due to a typhoon, Leapmotor created the shortest launch event in automotive history—lasting less than 20 minutes.

The star of the event was a small car—the Leapmotor A05.

If you only look at the specifications, you might think this is a premium compact car priced around 150,000 yuan, featuring dual-chip support from Qualcomm 8295 and 8650, a 510km range, 16-minute rapid charging, and even LiDAR and full-scenario intelligent assistance from parking spot to parking spot.

Yet, this car starts at just 63,900 yuan, and even the top-spec version doesn’t exceed 100,000 yuan.

In July, the Leapmotor A10 pushed the Model Y off the top of the SUV sales charts with 26,424 units sold. Across the entire industry, its sales reached second place, just behind the Geely Starwish.

Now, the A10’s sibling, the A05, has arrived at an even lower price, making it even more competitive against other models.

At the post-launch media briefing, Leapmotor CEO Zhu Jiangming revealed his ambition: to shift the sales ratio from 40% domestic and 60% overseas to 60% overseas, with overseas sales accounting for 60% of Leapmotor’s total sales.

The main contributor to overseas sales will be this 60,000-yuan compact car.

01 LiDAR Is Not Missing

For Leapmotor to achieve monthly sales of 100,000 units, significant effort is required, especially for the highly anticipated A05.

In terms of size, the A05 is a typical urban compact car, with dimensions of 4200mm in length, 1800mm in width, and 1560mm in height, and a wheelbase of 2605mm. Its 4.9-meter minimum turning radius makes it easier to navigate through old neighborhoods, narrow streets, and crowded parking lots.

However, compactness does not mean a lack of presence. In contrast, the Leapmotor A05 offers a comprehensive intelligent experience in this segment.

It is equipped with the only LiDAR and Qualcomm 8650 assisted driving chip in its class, providing 200TOPS of equivalent computing power and a complete perception system. This forms the computational and perceptual foundation for complex urban roads, parking lots, and active safety functions, supporting navigation assistance from parking spot to parking spot.

After setting the destination, the vehicle can assist with exiting the parking spot, cruising through the parking lot, passing through gates, navigating public roads, entering the destination parking lot, and parking. Parking Memory Assist (HPA) and Parking Assist (APA) are no longer isolated functions but become continuous links in a complete journey.

Additionally, features like automatic parking, 120-meter Reverse trajectory (trail reversing), and 43 active assistance functions cover challenges like narrow roads and parking in old neighborhoods, rewriting the industry’s inherent cognition ( inherent cognition ) that “low-cost compact cars lack intelligent driving.”

Active safety functions have also been enhanced, with AEB automatic emergency braking supporting speeds up to 120km/h, along with IES emergency steering assist and MAI misacceleration inhibition for scenarios where the accelerator pedal is mistakenly pressed at low speeds.

Of course, it should be clarified that this system is not standard across all trims; only the high-spec 510 LiDAR and 510S versions offer intelligent driving capabilities, yet still priced under 100,000 yuan.

Leapmotor has also packed a 14.6-inch 2.5K central screen into the A05’s cabin. The latest Leapmotor OS integrates the Qianwen large model, supporting multimodal interaction, dialect recognition, and full-scenario voice control. The mid-to-high-spec versions are equipped with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8295 chip, featuring a 5nm process and 30TOPS of AI computing power.

This chip was last year a “status symbol” for models priced above 150,000 yuan, and has gradually trickled down to the 100,000-yuan segment this year. Leapmotor has directly placed it into a car priced just over 60,000 yuan.

02 Leapmotor’s Version of the MINI Cooper

Even beyond intelligence, the A05 excels in its fundamental electric powertrain, setting it apart.

Reviewing compact cars in the same price range, their ranges typically fall between 310km and 410km, with very few exceeding 450km. The primary constraint on range for compact cars is their size and urban commuting positioning.

However, the Leapmotor A05 fits a 53kWh battery pack within this price range, pushing the CLTC range to 510km—a unique feat for a pure electric hatchback.

Zhu Jiangming also stated in the post-launch briefing: “Among A10 models, up to 70% of users opt for the long-range version exceeding 500km. The A05’s range is unparalleled in its segment.”

Charging speed is also impressive, with the 510 version supporting 2.5C rapid charging, reaching 30% to 80% in just 16 minutes.

Another option offers a 405km CLTC range with a 39.8kWh lithium iron phosphate battery, charging from 30% to 80% in about 30 minutes. Even this range places it in the top tier among compact cars in the same price range.

The corresponding motor power also varies between versions: the 405km version uses a 70kW front motor, while the 510km version upgrades to 90kW, delivering around 122 horsepower and a top speed of 160km/h.

In terms of driving dynamics, the A05 features a front MacPherson independent suspension, a rear torsion beam non-independent suspension, and an LMC sport fusion control system, along with a ZF Onebox braking system and comfortable braking function.

Its target scenario is clear: a compact pure electric vehicle for urban commuting, as a second family car, or for first-time young buyers.

In terms of space, thanks to CTC (Cell-to-Chassis) battery integration and a highly integrated cabin, it achieves an 88.4% space efficiency, with rear headroom reaching 965mm, avoiding the cramped feeling common in compact cars.

The trunk offers 474 liters of capacity, expandable to 1308 liters with the rear seats folded, plus a 91-liter washable storage area underneath for wet tents or fresh produce, enabling dry-wet separation. The rear seat cushions can also be flipped up at a 60-degree angle, revealing a 32-liter hidden compartment.

While a compact car with ample space seems paradoxical, it reflects Leapmotor’s systematic efforts.

After the launch, Zhu Jiangming did not hide his praise for the car’s functionality and quality in interviews, aiming to make the A05 Leapmotor’s version of the MINI Cooper, and the A10 its version of the MINI Countryman.

03 A Key Piece for One Million Annual Sales

The product’s highlights are just its surface-level performance. Deeper insights into the A05’s position within Leapmotor’s lineup and the current competitive landscape reveal its ambition.

First, why did Leapmotor launch a second model, the A05, after creating the A10, a bestseller under 100,000 yuan?

According to Zhu Jiangming, the A05 and A10 share a platform and configuration approach, not only filling out Leapmotor’s lineup from A-segment compact cars to D-segment models but also enabling R&D and supply chain reuse to further reduce costs and saturate the sub-100,000-yuan market.

As Leapmotor Senior Vice President Xu Jun said, “All market opportunities come from consumer segmentation.” The A10’s primary user base is 65% male, focused on family versatility, but there’s also a significant group of young women who deserve their own vehicle, he noted.

Moreover, in March, Cao Li confirmed that the current T03 has been discontinued, with the next generation primarily targeting overseas markets. The T03 was once key to Leapmotor’s sales breakthrough. Now, with the T03 phased out, Leapmotor needs a new model to fill the void.

This positioning means the Leapmotor A05 is the final crucial piece for Leapmotor to achieve its one million annual sales target this year.

Across the sub-100,000-yuan A-segment compact car market, top models consistently sell over 10,000 units monthly, even surpassing 20,000 units. For example, in July, the two best-selling models under 100,000 yuan were the Geely Starwish and Leapmotor A10, with sales of 32,306 and 26,424 units, respectively. Models like the BYD Dolphin and MG4 have also consistently exceeded 10,000 monthly sales for months.

With the A10 already a hit, the A05—a sibling model built on the same technology platform but at a lower price—is likely to perform well.

So far, Leapmotor has delivered nearly 460,000 units from January to July, completing 46% of its annual one million sales target, including over 100,000 units delivered in July alone. With five months remaining, Leapmotor needs to sell 100,000 units monthly to meet its goal.

Zhu Jiangming believes the probability of achieving this target is high. He noted that sales are typically stronger in the second half of the year, with a historical industry ratio of 4:6 between first-half and second-half sales. “Everything is progressing as planned, entirely within expectations,” he said.

“We must explore every avenue to reach this goal,” he stated. Clearly, Leapmotor is confident in achieving its target this year but acknowledges challenges, including the overall industry sales decline and rising material costs.

Over the past three years, Leapmotor’s sales have grown steadily without sharp fluctuations. “We’re moving upward step by step,” Zhu Jiangming said.

Furthermore, Leapmotor’s greater ambition lies in its overseas expansion. As a global model, the A05 will initially focus on markets favoring hatchbacks, such as Italy. “I believe its competitiveness in Europe will be very strong—not unbeatable, but exceptionally strong,” Cao Li said.

Zhu Jiangming also emphasized increasing overseas sales share: “The domestic-to-overseas sales ratio will shift from 40:60 to 50:50, eventually reaching 60:40, with overseas sales accounting for 60% of Leapmotor’s total.”

He explained, “No Chinese automaker has sold 5 million units yet; Volkswagen’s peak was just over 4 million. If Leapmotor aims for 10 million units, at least 6 million must come from overseas markets, with 4 million domestically—otherwise, the challenge becomes even greater.”

Of course, this confidence stems from Leapmotor’s belief in the A05’s product strength. “While others start at 300km range, we start at 400km; when they reach 400km, we hit 500km. Who else puts an 8295 chip and such an interactive system in this price range? The A05 delivers all these configurations, which were previously unavailable in this segment.”

As Zhu Jiangming said, the A05’s arrival is poised to reshape the narrative of A-segment cars.