Leapmotor EV imports shift from Metro to Samelet: What's next?

Transferring vehicle import franchises between importers is relatively rare. The Seat franchise moved from Delek Motors to Champion Motors, the importer of Volkswagen, after the Spanish company was acquired by the Germans. Thus, Skoda also moved from the Shlomo Group, and Opel, which was acquired by Peugeot Citroën, moved from Shlomo to Lubinski, the importer of the French brands.

Now, it is also happening with electric vehicles: the Leapmotor franchise is moving from Metro to Samelet, one of the two importers in Israel for Stellantis Group, which acquired 21% of the Chinese manufacturer about a year ago for 1.5 billion euros and gained control over the joint venture that will manage the export of its models abroad. Metro will retain the Dongfeng franchise.

Under Samelet, which imports the luxury electric models of Hongqi but until now did not have a mass-market Chinese brand, the plans for Leapmotor from Metro will continue, with two strategic launches in the last quarter of the year and the later import of long-range plug-in hybrid models. Over the next three years, four additional model launches are expected.

T03: The mini electric vehicle, officially sold for around NIS 100,000 and currently mainly in zero-kilometer deals for NIS 85,000, with almost 800 units already delivered in Israel, will arrive around November in an updated version. The main and important change: the addition of active safety systems, which are already available in gasoline-powered mini cars, like the Kia Picanto and Toyota Aygo X. No changes are expected in the technical specifications: a 41 kWh battery (37.3 net), a combined range of 280 km, and a 95 hp motor. Although Fiat will start assembling the Chinese mini in Poland, it will continue to arrive in Israel from China for now. Eventually, production of all European models is expected to shift to Europe to avoid the heavy tax imposed by the European Union on vehicles manufactured in China.

C10: A family crossover, five seats, with a 70 kWh battery and a range of 420 km. The specifications include full active safety systems. The price is expected to position it against the BYD Atto 3.