2026 Leapmotor B10 Design review

Unlike most of its small electric SUV rivals, the 2026 Leapmotor B10 is equipped with rear-wheel drive, 50/50 weight distribution, and chassis tuning by Maserati engineers, and it looks like a mini-Porsche Macan from the rear – but costs almost $100,000 less.

A shining example of the rapid rise of China’s car industry, Leapmotor was founded as an independent Chinese automaker only a decade ago in 2015, produced its first model in 2019, and has since exported more than a million vehicles to markets including Australia.

But the second Leapmotor model to arrive here is far more convincing than the larger C10, which debuted the fledgling brand here in late 2024 but has struggled for recognition amid a sea of mid-size electric SUV competitors led by the Tesla Model Y, in Australia’s largest new-car market segment.

Like the C10 – and most other Chinese cars – the B10’s headline act is its bargain-basement price. When it was announced in September, the starting sticker of just $38,990 drive-away made it Australia’s most affordable small electric SUV, undercutting theMG S5 EV(priced from $40,490 drive-away and for now the only other rear-drive model in this class).

Further sweetening the deal, Leapmotor Australia also offered three years of scheduled servicing for just $200 to those who registered their interest before October 31, 2025 and purchased a B10 by the end of January 2026, when sold vehicles also received an over-the-air software update bringing Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity – technology still missing from the C10.

But ahead of first deliveries from November and its official launch this month, the Chery E5has matched the B10’s starting price and the much smaller BYD Atto 2 has arrived with pricing from just $31,990 before on-road costs, claiming the title of the nation’s most affordable electric SUV.

Other non-premium players in the segment are far more expensive, including the Kia EV3 (from $47,600 plus ORCs), Hyundai Kona Electric (from $54,000), Renault Megane E-Tech (from $54,990), and Mini Countryman E (from $64,990).

For under $40,000, the Leapmotor B10 comes extremely well-equipped, but is it actually any good to drive and operate? We attended the national press launch, including an extensive drive through Brisbane and typical Aussie rural roads west of the Gold Coast over two days, to find out.

How much does the Leapmotor B10 cost?

The B10 is available in two model grades – Style and Design LR (Long Range) – and apart from additional equipment, the flagship variant upgrades to a larger-capacity 67.1kWh lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery, giving it a range of up to 516km (NEDC) for an extra $3000.

That’s up from the 56.2kWh LFP battery in the base Style, which still provides a 442km NEDC range for a similar price to many combustion-powered small SUVs.

To see how the Leapmotor B10 lines up against the competition, check out ourcomparison tool

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What is the Leapmotor B10 like on the inside?

To enter the B10, you must tap the key card (there’s no actual key) on a sensor in the driver’s side mirror, unless you’ve downloaded the Leapmotor app to your smartphone which will then act as a proximity key.

But then you have to deal with the silly flush-fit door handle, which looks great but unlike others that pop out, requires you to push and then pull with the same hand, which is fiddly and annoying over time.

Once inside, however, you’re greeted by a relatively huge cabin, backing Leapmotor’s claim that at 4.5 metres long (230mm shorter than the C10, which is just 10mm wider and also large for its class) the B10 is among the largest small SUVs in its class, offering plenty of head, shoulder and general stretching room.

While the entry-level Style gets grey fabric seat trim, the Design variants we were restricted to driving score lovely ‘TechnoLeather’ synthetic upholstery, which looks and feels great in either Light Grey or Shadow Grey, even if the seats will get dirty easily.

Interior material and build quality is impressive and befitting of a much larger and more expensive vehicle, with soft-touch surfaces everywhere except on top of the dash itself, and none of the smelly odours found in some new Chinese cars.

The generously proportioned and six-way power-adjustable driver’s seat has just enough range to get comfortable, but the steering wheel doesn’t telescope much and the seat doesn’t go down quite far enough for my liking.

Like many Chinese models (and Teslas), the B10’s dashboard is spartan and screen-heavy. It’s dominated by a big, floating central 14.6-inch multimedia touchscreen, which is the control centre for operating almost all functions including the air-conditioning, music, and vehicle settings.

However, the screen is well presented, very high-resolution (2500K HD) and super-responsive, while key functions can be programmed to the two scroll wheels on the steering wheel, and they’re always easy to access via a row of permanent icons at the bottom of the screen.

Thankfully there are physical window switches on the doors (as well as the screen), but adjusting the mirrors is done by tapping the screen then scrolling the thumb wheels on the tiller.

The smaller 8.8-inch column-mounted digital instrument cluster is also clear and quick to refresh, but it would be nice for us older folk if the fonts and icons on both screens were larger, including the digital speedo readout which is a bit small and situated to the left, so it’s often concealed behind the steering wheel and your hand when turning.

And what looks like a pair of wireless phone chargers taking pride of place ahead of the centre armrest is in fact only a 15W charger on the right and the sensor for the key card on the left, which seems a bit weird.

However, storage options are plentiful. There are 22 of them, in fact, including a nice big bin under the soft-padded centre armrest, and a fairly useless open tray that sits above a decently sized glovebox that can swallow a 14-inch laptop).

There are also bottle holders in all four doors, plus a pair of nifty fold-down cupholders in the open centre console up front.

The back seat is huge and offers rear occupants an enormous amount of legroom – as much as many mid-size SUVs – as well as headroom. This is despite the full-size (1.8 square-metre) fixed panoramic glass sunroof, which thankfully comes with an electric blind that’s easily operated via a permanent button on the touchscreen.

There’s enough room back there for three adults in reasonable comfort, given the almost-flat centre position, and rear passengers also score dedicated air vents and both USB-C and USB-A outlets like those up front, where there’s also a 60W USB port and a 12V socket.

The rear bench doesn’t slide but the seatbacks are 60/40-split and fold, extending to 1457 litres the capacity of the big, square 430L boot.

The boot measures 1100mm long and 1100mm wide but is sadly equipped only with a tyre repair kit underneath. Like almost all EVs, there’s no spare wheel here, not even a space-saver.

The B10’s air-conditioning system worked very well in baking Queensland heat, and the programmable multi-colour ambient lighting system – which wraps around the outboard air vents on the dash – adds genuine wow factor to what is a classy cabin with far more ambience than you’d expect in a car this price.

To see how the Leapmotor B10 lines up against the competition, check out ourcomparison tool

What’s under the bonnet?

Their batteries might be different, but both variants of the B10 are powered by the same rear-mounted electric motor driving the rear wheels, producing 160kW of power and 240Nm of torque, which doesn’t sound like much but kerb weights are reasonably low for an EV this size.

The B10 supports 11kW AC charging and DC fast-charging at up to 168kW (for the Design variant), enabling a 30 to 80 per cent charge in approximately 20 minutes. The Style variant can charge at up to 140kW.

To see how the Leapmotor B10 lines up against the competition, check out ourcomparison tool

How does the Leapmotor B10 drive?

As Alborz found when he drove the B10 at its European launch in October, the answer is very well.

You’d expect any car to ride well on smooth European roads, but what I didn’t expect was for the B10 to be so comfortable on rough city and suburban Brisbane surfaces, as well as the pockmarked country roads that are so typical in rural Australia.

The B10 remained calm, composed and supple in all conditions, offering luxury car-like levels of compliance even over the harshest of bumps, potholes and roadworks, and backed that up with high levels of refinement and whisper-quiet wind and road noise – except for a bit of tyre roar on coarse-chip surfaces.

Even more surprisingly, the high-quality ride comes at no expense to dynamics. In fact, the B10 handles so well and delivers such solid body control that I was constantly shocked by how flat it sat in bends – even over the bumpy, tight hairpins around Mount Tamborine.

There’s a serious lack of feedback from the steering, which feels overly light even in the firmest of its three settings (Sport), but the B10 points accurately and faithfully, making this small electric SUV somewhat fun to drive – not unlike the smaller and pricier Jeep Avenger.

This is not just due to the B10’s relatively rare rear-drive configuration, its 50/50 weight balance, its wider rear tyres (225/235 front/rear Linglong Sport Master on both variants), its multi-link independent rear suspension, or even its LEAP 3.5 platform, which is half a generation newer than the C10’s.

It’s thanks to chassis tuning by the ‘Stellantis Chassis Master Team’, which is the codename for a group of Maserati engineers tasked with weaving their ride/handling magic on a series of models from the French-Italian-American automaker, which owns 51 per cent of the Chinese brand’s export arm, Leapmotor International.

Straight-line performance isn’t startling, but it’s a good match for the B10’s well-sorted chassis, offering instant electric torque off the line before petering out a bit at higher speeds. Top speed is just 170km/h and there are three distinct levels of brake regeneration, plus a handy one-pedal driving mode.

An eight-second 0-100km/h time isn’t quick by any standard, but this electric SUV feels quicker than that, especially around town, and should be plenty for anyone shopping in this segment.

What’s less excusable is the B10’s super-intrusive advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS).

The Level 2 autonomous driving system is actually very good in full-auto mode (turned on with two taps of the right-hand stalk), when the adaptive cruise and lane centring functions keep the car in the middle of its lane – even around tighter bends on poorly marked country roads – and in sync with freeway traffic, even when it stops. This allows for confident hands-free driving for surprisingly long periods of time.

But at all other times the over-active lane-keeping assistant makes the B10 a chore to drive, because it constantly pushes and pulls the steering wheel the moment you approach a white line, and accompanies this with incessant beeping.

Of course, the system can be easily deactivated via the touchscreen, but it’s a major hassle to have to do that every time you set off, and the way the lane-assist system actually unwinds steering lock when you merely get close to lane markings on the inside of turns can be frightening.

There are plenty of other unnecessary safety bings and bongs too, such as when you exceed the speed limit by as little as 1km/h, but thankfully this can be restricted to a visual warning. And the driver attention monitor also isn’t as distracting as the one in the C10.

Overall, however, the B10’s annoying ADAS suite is a real blight on what is an otherwise delightful electric SUV to drive.

To see how the Leapmotor B10 lines up against the competition, check out ourcomparison tool

What do you get?

Both versions of the Leapmotor B10 come well-equipped for the price, but the Design flagship brings several big-ticket items for the extra $3000, including the longer-range battery, faux-leather trim, ambient lighting, 12-speaker sound system with 840W amp, and powered/heated/ventilated front seats.

2026 Leapmotor B10 Style equipment highlights:

• 56.2kWh high-voltage LFP battery
• 442km driving range (NEDC)
• 18-inch alloy wheels
• Tyre inflator kit
• Automatic LED headlights
• Heated exterior mirrors
• Fixed panoramic glass roof with electric sunshade
• Concealed door handles
• Automatic climate control
• 8.8-inch digital instrument cluster
• 14.6-inch infotainment touchscreen
• Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto
• Over-the-air (OTA) software updates
• Satellite navigation
• Qualcomm Snapdragon chip
• Wireless phone charger
• NFC and Bluetooth key
• Leapmotor Connected Services
• Integrated 360-degree dashcam recorder
• Rear cargo cover

B10 Design adds:

• 67.1kWh high-voltage LFP battery
• 516km driving range (NEDC)
• LED rear light bar
• Power-folding exterior mirrors
• Rain-sensing frameless wipers
• Power tailgate
• Rear privacy glass
• TechnoLeather seat trim
• 6-way electric driver’s seat adjustment
• 4-way electric front passenger seat adjustment
• Heated steering wheel
• Heated front seats
• Ventilated front seats
• Rear centre armrest and cupholders
• 12-speaker surround sound system
• Multi-colour interior ambient lighting

For early-bird purchasers, on December 30, 2025 a software update added Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, one-pedal driving mode, ADAS refinements including adaptive curve control, expanded voice control for the ‘Hey Leapmotor’ hands-free system, and custom shortcuts allowing you to create personalised presets combining ADAS settings, acceleration preferences, and regenerative braking levels.

To see how the Leapmotor B10 lines up against the competition, check out ourcomparison tool

Is the Leapmotor B10 safe?

Fitted with no fewer than 17 ADAS systems, the B10 achieved a maximum five-star Euro NCAP rating in November 2025, and was awarded the same rating in February 2026 by ANCAP, which praised its strong results.

Its child occupant protection score equalled the highest ever achieved under ANCAP’s 2023-2025 testing criteria.

Standard safety equipment highlights:

• Autonomous emergency braking (including reverse, and junction)
• Lane-keep assist (LKA)
• Lane departure warning (LDW)
• Emergency lane-keep assist (ELK)
• Speed assist system (SAS)
• LEAP Pilot (Level 2 ADAS)
• Dual front, side and curtain airbags
• Front-centre airbag
• 360-degree camera with dynamic guidelines
• Rear parking sensors

To see how the Leapmotor B10 lines up against the competition, check out ourcomparison tool

How much does the Leapmotor B10 cost to run?

The Leapmotor B10 is covered by a six-year, 150,000km warranty, while its high-voltage battery pack is covered by an eight-year, 160,000km warranty.

Logbook servicing is required every 12 months or 20,000km, whichever comes first, and the B10 is backed by generous eight-year roadside assist and capped-price service programs.

Each annual service is priced at $296, $428, $296​, $441, $305, $441​, $305​ and $441​, for a total of $2954 over eight years. We never got a chance to record energy consumption, but the B10 comes with both Mode 2 and Mode 3 charging cables as standard.

To see how the Leapmotor B10 lines up against the competition, check out ourcomparison tool

CarExpert’s Take on the Leapmotor B10

Leapmotor says the B10 is designed to be “the most European of the Chinese EVs” and it certainly rides and handles better than most of its competitors.

But it also delivers top-notch refinement and quality, and it’s larger and better packaged inside than most rivals too.

And for about $40,000, it comes standard with loads of cool features for the connected generation, including vehicle-to-load charging, a dashcam, Camp Mode, Guard Mode, and remote app functionality for a host of EV functions, not to mention eight funky exterior paint colours.

However, for an EV that’s so tech-focused, its advanced safety systems could certainly do with some fine-tuning – in particular the infuriating lane-keeping function that really detracts from what is an otherwise great, and great value, not-so-small electric SUV.

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MORE: Explore the Leapmotor B10 showroom