This very well-equipped electric car should soon sell for less than 15,000 euros in France.
An electric car for less than 15,000 euros? This could well convince many motorists to switch to green energy. Today, the high price of electric cars – on average 25 to 30% more expensive to purchase than their thermal counterparts (petrol, diesel, etc.) – remains a barrier for many potential customers. Faced with this implacable observation, manufacturers, forced by high authorities to produce more electric cars, will sooner or later have to cut back on their prices. Especially for European brands subject to tough competition from Asia, particularly China.
This is precisely the model of a Chinese brand that could get a lot of attention in the coming months. The manufacturer Leapmotor, still relatively little known on the old continent but very popular in China, has just marketed the TO3 in France, a small electric city car with a rounded silhouette, at a minimum price of 19,500 euros. With its introductory offer, it even benefits from a discount of 600 euros to appear at 18,900 euros. The same price, to the nearest cent, as the brand new Dacia Spring, produced in…China. Except that unlike the Spring, the T03 could very soon benefit from a nice discount of 4,000 euros.
This sleight of hand will be possible thanks to the new collaboration between Leapmotor and Stellantis, the Franco-Italian-American group which notably owns Peugeot, Citroën, Fiat, Opel and Alfa Romeo. This alliance will already allow the brand to be distributed by the Stellantis network and to escape the super taxes imposed by the European Union on vehicles imported from China (up to 37% in customs duties!). Then, thanks to the assembly of its components in a Polish factory, the small city car has every chance of becoming eligible for the ecological bonus. Leapmotor has already made the request and the response should come in the coming days. Its price would then drop to 14,900 euros, making the T03 the cheapest electric car in France, by far!
For this price, what should you expect? Obviously not for car of the year. However, this model from the brand from Hangzhou, a city in eastern China, holds up perfectly. Its 37.3 kWh battery gives it a range of 265 kilometers in the WLPT cycle when its 95 horsepower engine offers sufficient power for driving in an urban environment.
In terms of equipment, the T03 competes with cars sold twice as expensive: digital instrument cluster, 10.1-inch touchscreen infotainment screen, navigation, air conditioning, reversing camera, voice controls and even a panoramic roof! A strong power of seduction at a low price. What if it was she who democratized the electric car in France?