Stellantis bet on China's Leapmotor... and has just been proven right!

When Stellantis announced in October 2023 its 1.5 billion investment in Chinese manufacturer Leapmotor, many saw it as a risky gamble. At the time, the alliance between a Western automotive giant and a Chinese electric car start-up seemed surprising, even contradictory to Carlos Tavares's highly critical views on the Chinese carmaker offensive.

Two years later, Leapmotor's latest financial results shed a very different light on this decision. And they seem to confirm that Stellantis was perhaps right before many others.

Leapmotor finally becomes profitable

Leapmotor has just published its results for 2025, and they mark a major turning point in the Chinese automaker's history. For the first time since its creation, the brand has posted an annual profit.

The group posted a net profit of 540 million yuan, or around 70 million euros. A spectacular turnaround when you remember that in 2024 the company was still posting a loss of 2.82 billion yuan. Leapmotor thus becomes only the second emerging Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer to achieve full-year profitability.

This performance is based above all on extremely rapid business growth. In 2025, revenues simply doubled to 64.73 billion yuan, an increase of over 101 % year-on-year.

Profitability also improved significantly. Gross margin reached 14.5 %, compared with 8.4 % the previous year, while the company returned to positive operating income with 177 million yuan, after a loss of over 3 billion in 2024.

Leapmotor also generated 7.82 billion yuan in free cash flow and ended the year with almost 38 billion yuan in cash. These figures testify to a financial strength that is increasingly rare in the highly competitive world of Chinese automotive start-ups.

Impressive sales growth

This financial improvement is underpinned by an explosion in sales. In 2025, Leapmotor delivered 596,555 vehicles worldwide, more than double the 293,724 units sold in 2024.

With these volumes, the brand has become China's best-selling emerging manufacturer in the electric vehicle sector. A remarkable result in a market where competition is particularly fierce, with giants such as BYD, Nio and Xpeng.

International expansion is also beginning to pay off. In 2025, Leapmotor exported over 67,000 vehicles outside China. And by early 2026, cumulative exports had already exceeded 100,000 units. This international dimension is precisely one of the pillars of the partnership signed with Stellantis.

Stellantis' key role in global expansion

Leapmotor's growth abroad relies heavily on the Leapmotor International joint venture with Stellantis. In this structure, the Franco-Italian-American automotive group holds a 51 % stake and controls export, sales and production activities for Chinese models outside China.

Thanks to Stellantis' worldwide network, Leapmotor now has around 900 sales and service outlets in 40 markets. More than 800 dealers are already in Europe.

According to the company, the combination of Leapmotor model technology and the strength of the Stellantis sales network has already enabled the joint venture to achieve profitability in its second year of operation. This success partly validates the strategy imagined by Stellantis two years ago: to use the technological agility of a Chinese manufacturer while relying on its own worldwide network.

Cooperation set to intensify

The collaboration between the two groups could go much further in the years to come.

Leapmotor has taken advantage of the year 2025 to expand its range with several new models based on the LEAP 3.5 technology platform. This architecture incorporates advanced driver assistance systems and electrical architectures capable of 800 volts.

New models include the B10 electric SUV, the B01 sedan, the Lafa5 coupé, the D19 premium SUV and the D99 MPV. European expansion should also involve local production. The B10 SUV could be assembled as early as 2026 at the Stellantis plant in Zaragoza, Spain.

But according to Leapmotor, discussions with Stellantis already go beyond these industrial projects. The two companies are currently exploring various forms of cooperation around complete vehicles and components, with some projects already at an advanced stage of negotiation. In other words, Leapmotor could become much more than just a business partner.

A strategic gamble that makes sense

For Stellantis, Leapmotor's results come at a key time. The group is facing increasing regulatory pressure in Europe, particularly with CO₂ emissions standards becoming ever more stringent. In this context, having a manufacturer capable of rapidly producing competitive electric vehicles represents a major strategic advantage.

Leapmotor models could not only help Stellantis expand its electric offering, but also generate volumes of zero-emission vehicles capable of offsetting the emissions of its combustion models.

What appeared in 2023 to be a bold gamble now looks like a particularly pragmatic decision. By betting on Leapmotor before the Chinese manufacturer could prove its profitability, Stellantis gained a technological and industrial ally capable of accelerating its electric transition... while reducing the financial risks associated with European regulations.

Two years on, the figures seem clear: Stellantis' Chinese gamble is already starting to pay off.