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Leapmotor is a Stellantis-funded Chinese EV start-up offering affordable alternatives to the norm. But is its smallest model, the T03, worth considering? Lawrence Allan finds out.
Things you'll like
- Impressive standard equipment
- Room for four adults
- Comfortable and easy to drive
Things to consider
- Fiddly touchscreen and weak stereo
- Small boot
- Driver aids can be intrusive
What is the Leapmotor T03?
Perhaps a better question to start with is: What is Leapmotor? Well, it’s one of the vast number of Chinese start-up electric car brands with ambitions far beyond its already huge home market, despite only having launched its first car in 2019.
The difference here, though, is this is not a wholly Chinese affair. Leapmotor International (the company selling cars outside of China) is jointly owned by Stellantis, the multinational giant in charge of a daunting 14 brands including everything from Citroen and Vauxhall to Maserati and Jeep.
It’s this joint venture, Leapmotor says, that gives it a leg up over other Chinese rivals. Leapmotor dealerships can be tacked on to Stellantis’ existing dealer network, for example, while potential customers know they’re dealing with a name they can trust.
Despite the ‘Power of Stellantis’ messaging, the cars are currently designed, built and engineered fully in China (a factory in Poland is due to open soon). It’s entered the UK market with a two-pronged approach: an affordable city car in the T03, and a much posher (but still value-led) Tesla Model Y-sized SUV. In the next few years we’ll see another four new models launched, too.
Here, we’re trying the T03 – a dinky, cheap electric city car looking to beat the Dacia Spring at its own game. But is it any good? We’ll find out in this review.
Verdict: is the Leapmotor T03 a good car?
While some tech gripes still need to be addressed, we reckon the Leapmotor T03 is a capable, decently roomy, well-equipped and well-built city car that punches above its weight. It’s a more appealing proposition than the Dacia Spring for out-of-town use and gives city car buyers a real dilemma when considering petrol or electric power for the same money, even if it isn’t particularly exciting to look at or fun to drive.
Pricing, specs & rivals
This section is a simple one: there is one price and one spec of T03 and that’s your lot. Your options are restricted to a few choice colours – no hours spent pouring over the configurator for this one.
Leapmotor claims it doesn’t want the T03 to be the ‘cheapest’ electric car, but the best value. That translates to a price of £15,995 all in - £150 more than the very cheapest petrol-powered Kia Picanto at the time of writing (February 2025).
Perhaps more relevant is that the Dacia Spring – a similarly compact but low-frills electric car – is exactly £1,000 cheaper. At least that’s the case with the Expression model, with just 45hp and modest equipment level. Arguably the Spring that’s most comparable to the T03 in performance and kit terms is Extreme spec, which starts from £16,995.
Aside from its Romanian challenger, nothing comes close to the Leapmotor on price: the next cheapest EV in the UK, the Citroen e-C3, is £22,000.
And it’s not as if the Leapmotor T03 is sparse in its single spec: far from it. Standard kit includes air-con, an electronic handbrake, rear parking sensors, a rear-view camera, 15-inch alloys, a panoramic sunroof, a 10-inch touchscreen, a digital dial display and even adaptive cruise control. And that’s not including a host of safety aids, some of which are optional on EVs at more than twice the price.
All in all, that means the T03 appears to be – on paper at least – an electric car that offers as much as, if not more, than equivalent petrol-powered city cars.
Rivals
There’s no question that the Dacia Spring is the core product that the Leapmotor T03 is targeting – Leapmotor even brought one along for us to compare alongside. But there are other models worth thinking about.
If you really want basic, no-frills urban motoring then consider the Citroen Ami – it’s half the price of the T03. But then it isn’t technically a car, with no real safety equipment, a top speed of just 28mph and a range of 46 miles.
Beyond that, you might be willing to spend a fair bit more than the T03 on alternatives such as the Citroen e-C3, Vauxhall Corsa Electric, Renault 5, Hyundai Inster and BYD Dolphin. Or you might consider a city car that isn’t electric for similar money to the Leapmotor – think the Kia Picanto, Hyundai i10 or Dacia Sandero.
Leapmotor T03: Interior comfort, quality & technology
At this price point you need to limit your expectations of design and quality, particularly with an electric car. But the T03 really isn’t as sparse and flimsy as you might expect.
In fact, build quality seems pretty good overall. The doors close with a thud rather than a tinny twang, the seat fabric feels quite nice, the steering wheel is a quality item and even the column stalks have an almost Mercedes-Benz like feel to them.
Of course, there’s very little in the way of soft-touch materials to be found, much like any small cheap car. But there’s some texture to the finishes, and even details such as chrome trim, fabric door cards and piano black plastic to lift the cabin.
It feels more substantial and durable than a Dacia Spring, even if we wish for a splash of colour to lift the unremitting greyness. Exciting it isn’t, but with some surprisingly premium touches, such as the panoramic sunroof with a powered blind, it’s airy and far from bargain-basement.
The driving position is comfortable for most people, with height adjustment on the driver’s side, but the steering wheel doesn’t adjust for reach, only limited up and down motion (like in the Spring). That poses a bit of an issue for taller drivers, although this near 6ft 3in tester managed to get reasonably comfortable without too much compromise.
For such a tiny car, though, visibility could be better. The front pillars are quite thick – good for crash safety, less ideal for seeing out – and it isn’t especially easy to judge where the bonnet ends. The rear window is a bit small, too, and doesn’t come with a rear wiper to keep it free from winter grime – a strange oversight.
Infotainment, sat-nav, stereo and connectivity
Every T03 comes with a 10-inch central touchscreen mounted in the centre of the dash rather than within the driver’s eyeline. At first glance it appears to be a decent enough system, with good resolution and acceptable response times for a cheap car.
However, some of the menus are confusing and the screen’s position low down on the dash makes it difficult to use on the move. That’s problematic, because unlike the Dacia Spring there are no physical buttons to control things like the air-conditioning or key drive mode functions. In practice, it means you’re best of setting up things how you want them before setting off – there are physical wheel buttons, but they aren’t the easiest to operate.
Another disappointment is the lack of any Android Auto or Apple CarPlay connectivity – a real oversight given the base screen isn’t easy to use on the move. Stellantis claims this is something that could come via over-the-air updates in future, but that’s not guaranteed.
Still, you do get Leapmotor’s own voice control, along with 4G connectivity, sat-nav, a WiFi hotspot and Bluetooth along with a smartphone app that can be used as a key to lock or unlock the car if needed.
The T03’s eight-inch digital driver’s display is clear enough and easy to get along with, but it’s a shame it’s not configurable at all – we couldn’t work out how to access any kind of efficiency display, for example.
Similarly, the standard stereo doesn’t offer the best sound quality when combined with the DAB radio’s patchy reception. You also get USB-A connectors in the front, rather than the now increasingly standardized USB-C.
How practical is the Leapmotor T03?
The Leapmotor T03 is roughly the same size as a traditional city car, with dimensions of 3.62m in length, 1.65m in width and 1.58m in height. That makes it a bit longer, narrower and taller than a Hyundai i10, but shorter and wider than a Dacia Spring.
While occupants in the front over six-feet tall will probably have their seats pushed as far back as they’ll go, legroom is acceptable and headroom is quite generous. Despite the relatively narrow cabin, there’s also enough width to avoid passengers rubbing shoulders up front.
The rear is better than you might expect for space, too. Legroom isn’t overly palatial, sure, but there is enough room for an average-sized adult to not feel squeezed behind a similarly sized driver and loads of space under the front seat for feet. Headroom is good enough, although those over six foot will find their head hits the back of the roof before it hits the headrest. Still, there’s far more space for adults than a Fiat 500e, for example.
Like the Spring, the T03 is limited by having just two seats in the rear rather than the usual three, but it’s not as if you’d have space for a third passenger anyway. And the fact that you have five doors means the T03 beats something like a MINI Cooper Electric for accessibility.
One bugbear is the fact that you only get one ISOFIX points in the rear for mounting child seats to. The argument is that there isn’t enough space for two bulky rear-facing seats anyway, but given Dacia manages to get two points in the back of the Spring we think it’s something Leapmotor should’ve included.
Storage and boot space
There’s an acceptable amount of storage in the front of the Leapmotor T03. The door bins aren’t huge but you can just about squeeze a bigger water bottle in there, while the glovebox is a decent size.
There’s a single cupholder mounted below the dash with a slot for your phone in front of it and charging ports behind – it’s probably not the best idea to mix liquids with charging devices. You also get a small slot for your wallet or similar between the two seats, and that’s about it.
The rear is more limited, as to be expected. You will find a pair of small door bins and a single cupholder, but you won’t find a fold-down centre armrest nor any pockets in the front seatbacks.
It’s clear by the proximity of the rear seatbacks to the tailgate that there isn’t going to be a big boot in the T03, and those assumptions would be correct. With just 210 litres of capacity combined with a narrow opening it’s only suitable for a small shopping trip.
By comparison, a Dacia Spring has a more generous 308 litre boot, but the Leapmotor at least has a bigger boot than a Fiat 500e, and is roughly on a par with a MINI Cooper Electric. Even so, we wouldn’t call it a practical space. At least the seats fold easily in one movement if you’re not using the back seats.
Performance & drive: What is the Leapmotor T03 like on the road?
The Leapmotor T03’s exterior design doesn’t give off performance car vibes and nor does its size. But by the standards of the city car class it’s a decent performer – far more so than the Dacia Spring.
With 95hp and a decent 158Nm of torque powering the front wheels, the T03 is capable of 0-62mph in 12.7 seconds. That’s faster than quite a few petrol city cars, and the T03 is more than twice as powerful as the entry-level Spring.
There’s a surprising amount of travel in the Leapmotor’s throttle pedal, and acceleration is somewhat gentle for the first 10mph or so. But once above that it gets up to speed perfectly quickly enough and doesn’t feel out of its depth in the cut-and-thrust of UK traffic.
The lack of a screaming engine means it doesn’t feel too underpowered on the motorway, either, even if ultimately you’ll not be overtaking anything in any great hurry. For urban driving with the occasional out-of-town excursion the T03 is entirely capable.
Power, 0-62mph times
- Leapmotor T03: 95hp/ 12.7 seconds
Ride and handling
Leapmotor has clearly tuned to T03 further towards comfort than handling, with an impressively smooth ride that cancels out the worst potholes while feeling stable at speed and not floating about too much.
It’s quite easy to forget you’re in something so small and low-priced. Sadly, that doesn’t translate to keen handling like many city cars: the steering isn’t all that sharp and self-centres slowly after big turns, while feeling mostly disconnected from what the front wheels are doing.
There are three weight modes to the steering, but it’s best left in Sport unless you’re solely in town because the lesser modes are too light for anything other than parking. That works perfectly well on city streets but doesn’t make the T03 a confidence-inspiring back-road car.
Still, you get a tight turning circle, acceptable grip levels and body roll that isn’t overly excessive, plus it isn’t unstable on the motorway. There’s enjoyment to be had here, but mainly by squeezing through gaps and into parking spaces that bigger cars couldn’t entertain.
Noise and refinement
With small wheels and thick sidewalls, plus decent sound insulation, road noise isn’t excessive even on poor surfaces. Sadly, there is quite an intrusive level of wind noise at motorway speeds, as to be expect with such a slab-sided design.
The other irritation is the low-speed pedestrian noise the T03 emits. While it goes away above 20mph, below that it’s surprisingly loud and irksome inside the car – we’re not yet aware of a way to turn it down. Still, at higher speeds whine from the electric motor is noticeable but not excessively so.
Euro NCAP: is the Leapmotor T03 a safe car?
Leapmotor doesn’t yet know when Euro NCAP will test the T03 for safety, so currently we can’t accurately assess that. All we can do is repeat the brand’s claims, which are that 68% of the T03’s body is made of high-strength steel, and every model comes with six airbags as standard.
Leapmotor itself also has a very strong safety record, with the recently-launched C10 SUV achieving the maximum five-star rating when it was tested in 2024.
With the T03, the battery is also a structural component of the car, like many high-end electric cars. Standard active safety tech is also extensive, including the usual automatic emergency braking, intelligent speed assistance and lane keeping assistance.
Beyond that there’s blind spot monitoring, adaptive cruise control, driver drowsiness and attention monitoring and a rear-view camera. Impressively, all of this is standard on every T03 – you certainly don’t get the same in the Dacia Spring.
Unfortunately, you’ll probably find the driver monitoring, lane keeping and speed limit warning to be intrusive thanks to excessive bongs that serve to distract more than warn.
Charging, range and running costs
Small, lightweight and with modest performance, the Leapmotor T03 has all the hallmarks of a seriously cheap-to-run electric car. But its range and charging also gives it more of a use case outside of town than, say, a Dacia Spring.
At 37.3kWh, T03’s battery is around a third larger in capacity than the Spring, bringing a range of up to 165 miles in WLTP combined tests. That range is only 25 miles longer on paper than the Dacia, granted, but that could be the difference that some people need to make it a viable purchase.
The quoted range means that, on paper, the T03 is capable of over 4.5 miles per kWh – a strong figure that should be even higher if you only use it in urban commutes.
It’s also worth pointing out that much more expensive electric cars, like the Mazda MX-30 and now-defunct Honda e, can’t match the little Leapmotor’s range figure even on a good day. Nevertheless, a BYD Dolphin or Vauxhall Corsa Electric is considerably more usable still.
Range on a charge (WLTP figures)
- Leapmotor T03 (all models): 165 miles
In terms of charging speeds the Leapmotor doesn’t exactly set the world alight. But, crucially, it’ll hit higher peak speeds than the Dacia Spring – and every version can rapid charge, unlike that car.
Granted, the maximum DC rate of 48kW is pretty low compared to most of today’s electric cars. But given the small battery size it’s not too bad. Still, a quoted 53 minutes for a 10-80% charge means that it’s unlikely you’ll be crossing continents in your T03.
With AC home or destination charging things are a bit more limited: the Leapmotor’s on-board charger only accepts 6.6kW, like the Spring. Still, with that small battery it means a full charge is possible in around six and a half hours – good enough for an overnight top-up.
Charging speed
- Leapmotor T03 (all models): 48kW DC
How much does the Leapmotor T03 cost to insure?
Insurance groups for the Leapmotor T03 have yet to be released at the time of writing, so it’s difficult to give any real insight into how much it costs to insure.
All we can say is that Leapmotor’s parent company, Stellantis, has made efforts to ensure affordability and ease of repair with 95% parts availability in Europe and the UK, and production in Poland. This means that, unlike some Chinese EV brands without this availability, it should be cheaper and quicker to get a Leapmotor repaired and back on the road – reducing insurance liability.
Leapmotor T03 FAQs
What is the price of the Leapmotor T03 in the UK?
The Leapmotor T03 is one of the cheapest electric cars on sale, priced at £15,995 in the UK. For that price you get one high spec, meaning the only options are things like the exterior colour.
Is the Leapmotor T03 a good car?
We reckon the Leapmotor T03 has an awful lot going for it as a top value city-focused electric car. It’s nearly as cheap as a Dacia Spring but far more capable, with a comfortable drive, lots of standard equipment, a decent range and space for four adults.
What is Leapmotor?
Leapmotor is a Chinese car maker based in Hangzhou, China, that was founded in 2015 during the country’s EV start-up boom. It sold its first production cars in 2019. European automotive giant Stellantis purchased a 20% stake in Leapmotor in 2023. Leapmotor International, the joint venture that sells the cars outside of China, is now 51% (majority) owned by Stellantis, and the cars are sold through its networks.
