A new Fiat based on a model from Chinese brand Leapmotor?

And if Fiat wasn't totally Italian? As November draws to a close, an insistent rumor is stirring the European automotive industry: the Stellantis group is reportedly planning to market a Chinese Leapmotor model in Europe under one of its most emblematic emblems. And while nothing is yet official, reports from Italy and France are already sketching out the contours of this unprecedented project.

The Leapmotor B05 officially takes the stage

Leapmotor has just launched a new electric compact car in China, the Lafa 5, known internationally as the B05. With its 4.43-meter length, rear-wheel drive and ultra-aggressive price positioning, it takes on well-established models such as the Volkswagen ID.3, MG4 and BYD Dolphin head-on.

Priced from 92,800 yuan, or around 11,000 euros in its country of origin, the B05 boasts solid technical specifications: 56.2 or 67.1 kWh LFP batteries, claimed ranges from 515 to 605 km in the CLTC cycle, rapid recharging from 30 to 80 % in less than 20 minutes, and power from 132 to 160 kW. But it's not so much the technical specifications that are attracting attention in Europe as its industrial future.

European production in focus

According to the Italian business daily Milano Finanza, the Leapmotor B05 could become much more than just an imported Chinese model. It could even be a candidate for European production, possibly at the Stellantis plant in Saragozza, Spain.

This scenario is in line with of the merger between Stellantis and Leapmotorof which the Franco-Italian-American group owns 21 %s, in addition to managing the Leapmotor International joint venture dedicated to foreign markets. Industrialization in Europe would make it possible to bypass customs barriers, reduce logistics costs and better adapt the product to the regulatory constraints of the Old Continent. But that's not the real news.

What if this Leapmotor became a Fiat?

This is where the story becomes particularly unusual. According to several corroborating sources, including Milano Finanza and the Torino Cronaca media, Stellantis is giving serious thought to rebadging the B05 under one of its European names. The name Opel has been bandied about in recent weeks, but the Italian brand is now an increasingly credible possibility. Fiat, in particular, would have everything to gain from such an operation.

The Turin-based brand is currently suffering from a gaping hole in its range: between the urban 500e and the more expensive higher-end models, it lacks a truly accessible, modern electric compact capable of mass appeal in Europe. A Leapmotor disguised as a Fiat would fill this gap perfectly, without requiring the costly development of an entirely new model. Some even suggest a return to the nostalgic "Brava" name, which is still well known in many European markets.

A model already used in Italy

What makes this scenario even more credible is that the Leapmotor B05 is no stranger to Stellantis engineers. For several months now, models from the Chinese brand have benefited from Italian know-how on the Balocco test trackthe historic stronghold of Alfa Romeo and Maserati. Italian engineers have already reworked the settings of the Leapmotor T03 and C10 to adapt them to European requirements. And, according to available information, the B05 will follow the same path, with chassis tuning designed to offer more dynamic, more precise behavior, better suited to European roads.

This project is also part of a new phase for Stellantis, now headed by Antonio Filosa after the Carlos Tavares era. The objective is clear: to accelerate electrification while drastically reducing costs. A rebadging of an already amortized Chinese model would enable us to arrive on the market very quickly with a competitive offering, without investing hundreds of millions of euros in the development of an unprecedented platform.

Even John Elkann recently insisted on Fiat's central role in the Italian industrial revival of Stellantis. Producing a "Fiat" in Spain, based on a Chinese platform optimized in Italy, would be as much a political compromise as an industrial one. For purists, the idea may come as a shock. A Fiat born in China, produced in Spain, improved in part in Italy... But the modern automotive industry no longer functions as it did in the last century. The question is no longer "where was the car born?", but "is it competitive, reliable and desirable?". If this future electric Fiat offers a good price-performance ratio, roadholding worthy of the brand and a sufficiently reworked design, few buyers will stop at its passport.