Leapmotor will add plug-in hybrids for the first time, the company said on Wednesday at a technology event in Huzhou, Zhejiang, adding a third powertrain to a line-up that until now has been battery-electric and range-extender only.
The MM-i drive unit was one of several announcements at what the company called its 2026 Tech Day and described as a phased report card on its in-house engineering. No new vehicle was shown and no prices were given.
The centrepiece was an assisted driving system Leapmotor calls its World Model, which it said will reach cars priced under 100,000 yuan ($14,900), on grades fitted with LiDAR.
The Hybrid
Leapmotor was founded in 2015 and has sold only battery-electric and range-extender vehicles.
The MM-i unit uses a generator that can also drive the wheels, paired with two coaxial electromagnetic clutches. Leapmotor gives its weight as 106 kilograms and its peak output as 206 kilowatts.
The company also says the unit is 40% lighter than rival systems, reaches an industry-leading 94.4% generating efficiency and cuts fuel consumption by 20%. None of those comparisons has been independently verified.
It is designed to fit vehicles from the A0 to the D segment, and to operate in series or parallel, which would allow the same hardware to work as a range extender or as a plug-in hybrid depending on the mode.
Leapmotor attached no production model, no market and no date. Plug-in hybrids for export markets have been reported for the first half of 2027.
World Model
Leapmotor says the system anticipates how a road scene will develop rather than classifying what is already in view.
Zhou Hongtao, Head of Leapmotor’s Electronic Product Line, said existing systems struggle with long-tail scenarios and complex road conditions, and that the world model is the company’s answer.
“We believe the world model is not a technical paradigm but a goal, to let the model understand the world around it as a human does and predict what will happen next,” Zhou said. “If the model can imagine how the world will change, it can judge how to drive.”
Leapmotor says the system runs on as little as 200 trillion operations a second in its lowest configuration, rising to 1,280 in its highest.
The company says it will be available on cars priced under 100,000 yuan when fitted with LiDAR. Its A10 starts at 65,800 yuan ($9,800) and the LiDAR grade at 86,800 yuan ($12,900).
Leapmotor said the system will cover its A, B, C and D series. Reporting before the event, citing people familiar with the plans, put the range of cars involved at 60,000 to 300,000 yuan ($8,900 to $44,700).
The company said it will deliver the system to existing owners by over-the-air update from the first quarter of 2027.
Founder and Chairman Zhu Jiangming said Leapmotor had delivered 350,000 LiDAR-equipped cars by the end of August, and that those vehicles will receive the system at no cost, with free use for the life of the car.
LEAP 5.0
Leapmotor also announced a vehicle architecture it calls LEAP 5.0, built around interior space rather than a conventional layout with the powertrain in the nose.
Cao Li, Senior VP and Head of the Vehicle Product Line, compared the shift to the move from feature phones to smartphones.
The company claims a 19% gain in cabin space from moving the powertrain rearward and integrating the climate unit, a 37.5% gain in front-row width from upright dampers and smaller die-cast aluminium suspension towers, and a 63.7% gain in cabin height from a rising roof and a floor lowered by 70 millimetres. All three figures are Leapmotor’s own, measured against its D19 flagship.
Vehicles on the architecture are due in 2027 and are expected to launch under a second brand, which Leapmotor has not named.
CTC 3.0
The third generation of Leapmotor’s cell-to-chassis battery moves the low-voltage function inside the main pack, removing the separate 12-volt auxiliary battery fitted to most cars and normally replaced every few years.
Leapmotor says the change raises low-voltage capacity sevenfold and makes the system maintenance-free for the life of the vehicle.
The company said it will open-source the patents for the fused pack to the industry.
The Plant
Leapmotor opened its Huzhou plant to media this month, ahead of the event. The company calls it the Super Five-Electric factory and says it produces batteries, electric drive units, domain controllers, lighting and power electronics.
The company reported 103,129 global deliveries in August, up 80.7% and a second consecutive month above 100,000, with first-half revenue of 38.11 billion yuan and net profit of 210 million yuan.
