Leapmotor boss Zhu Jiangming isn’t just after bigger sales. He’s out to change what a car is, promising a new brand and technology that could shake up driving as much as the iPhone changed phones.
Zhu Jiangming isn’t satisfied with Leapmotor’s fast growth or its reputation for affordable, tech-heavy electric cars. He’s after something bigger. Zhu wants Leapmotor to become the “Apple of the car industry” and launch a product that could change what people expect from a car, just like the iPhone did for phones.
He made this clear at Leapmotor Technology Day 2026. There, Zhu announced the company is building a second brand. The first car from this new line will use Leapmotor’s next-gen LEAP 5.0 architecture. The plan is to launch and start deliveries in the last quarter of 2027. Zhu says this won’t be just another electric car. He calls it a total rethink—a car that’s not just transport, but a “complete entity,” a mobile space.
LEAP 5.0 was officially presented alongside the new CTC 3.0 battery technology at Tech Day 2026, marking a unified product strategy for Leapmotor's next generation of vehicles.
To explain his idea, Zhu pointed to Apple. He said Apple didn’t invent the main tech behind the iPhone—wireless, computers, touchscreens, cameras, or MP3 players. But Apple put them together in a way that changed how people use technology. Leapmotor wants to do the same for cars, bringing that level of integration and user experience to drivers.
Even with the electric boom, Zhu says most new energy cars still copy the old shapes and layouts. He thinks that as self-driving tech gets better and drivers do less, the inside and purpose of the car should change completely. The new brand, which doesn’t have a name yet, is meant to show this shift, with LEAP 5.0 at its heart. Pricing and specs are still secret, but the schedule is set: launch and first deliveries in the last three months of 2027.
Leapmotor isn’t stopping at new architecture. The company also showed off “LWM” (Leapmotor World Model), an AI-based driver assist system trained on huge data sets. This fits Leapmotor’s long-running push for vertical integration. The company makes about 65% of its cars’ value in-house. Earlier breakthroughs include Cell-to-Chassis systems, centralized electronics, and tightly integrated drive units.
According to official Leapmotor and Stellantis materials, the new LEAP 5.0 platform is described as a 'New Mobile Space Architecture' that unites both the physical and electronic vehicle architecture, aiming to support new interior usage scenarios. Industry sources note that the second brand is expected to be positioned above Leapmotor's current lineup, potentially targeting a higher price segment, though this has not yet been officially confirmed by the company.
The timing matters. In 2025, Leapmotor delivered nearly 600,000 cars—more than twice as many as the year before. The company has now shipped over 1.5 million vehicles since it started. In August, Leapmotor hit another record: 103,129 cars delivered in one month, the second month in a row above 100,000. This growth isn’t just in China. In Europe, Leapmotor is expanding through a partnership with Stellantis, which now owns 51% of Leapmotor International, the group running business outside China.
Spain is becoming a key part of this plan. Pre-production of the Leapmotor B10 has started at Stellantis’s Zaragoza plant, with more European manufacturing on the way. The Leapmotor-Stellantis alliance is set up to speed this growth, making Spain a main hub for Leapmotor’s global push. As reported earlier, Chinese electric car makers are already changing the Spanish market. Leapmotor’s next steps could push this shift even further.
Leapmotor stands out not just for its sales, but for its drive to rethink what a car is. Zhu Jiangming’s promise of an “iPhone moment” for cars is bold. But the company’s fast growth and deep tech give the claim real weight. If Leapmotor can deliver with the new brand and LEAP 5.0, it could raise the bar for Chinese automakers in Europe and force the whole industry to rethink the car itself. The countdown to late 2027 has started. The stakes for Leapmotor—and its rivals—are high.
