In a rapidly evolving landscape of new automotive forces, significant shifts have recently occurred!

On October 22, a fresh sales ranking of the latest automotive newcomers showed that Leap Motor achieved impressive sales of 0.8 million units, placing it among the top three, right behind Li Auto and Wuling.

Following Leap Motor are Xiaomi, Zeekr, Xpeng, and Deep Blue AutoNIO, one of the three dominant players often referred to as “Weilai Xiaoli,” reported only 0.39 million units, less than half that of Leap Motor!

It’s noteworthy that just in the first week of October, Leap Motor trailed behind NIOHowever, in a stunning turnaround, Leap Motor has now outpaced both NIO and Xpeng for two consecutive weeksBetween September 30th and October 20th, Leap Motor recorded cumulative sales of 20,200 units, 1.5 times that of NIO’s 13,100 and 1.8 times more than Xpeng’s 11,200.

Currently among the new automotive forces:

Leap Motor has aggressively surpassed both Xpeng and NIO, establishing itself in a three-pronged competition alongside Li Auto and Wuling.

Recent sales figures indicate that leap Motor is very close to Wuling

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Last week, Leap Motor sold 8,000 units while Wuling moved 8,700 unitsOver the last three weeks, Leap Motor accumulated 20,200 units compared to Wuling's 20,400.

However, Leap Motor's sales growth rate is exceedingly rapid; not only is it outpacing Wuling but it is also advancing quicker than Li Auto, which currently leads in the new energy vehicle marketLeap Motor's sales in January this year were a mere 39.39% of Li Auto's figures, but by September, this share had surged to 62.87%. This indicates that the sense of crisis is not limited to Wuling, which remains marginally behind Leap but extends to the leading Li Auto.

Given the current trends, it doesn't seem far-fetched to envision Leap Motor ascending to become the top seller among the new automotive forces, given a little more time!

Leap Motor has successfully executed two major strategies:

Adopting a strategy of "crossing the river by feeling the stones" coupled with an extreme focus on cost-performance.

In the current new energy vehicle market, competition is fierce and can be ruthlessLi Auto has anchored itself with excellent product development strategies, maintaining a long-term grip on the top spot in new automotive sales, becoming a benchmark for many automotive companiesLeap Motor stands out as the most diligent student among all these imitators.

The Leap C10 targets the Li L8, mirroring its exterior and interior, and even includes top-tier features making it almost a clone; truly following a formula of "copy and paste". Meanwhile, the Leap C16, which is also a six-seater mid-size SUV, directly competes with the Li L8, boasting spaciousness and a third row, simplified to just "copy" the successful design.

Recently launched at the Paris Auto Show, the Leap B10 features a groundbreaking design that vertically aligns its front-lighting elements beneath a continuous daytime running light, resembling a twin of Li's most popular product, the L6.

Such "homages" to fellow automakers have drawn substantial criticism, including mockery

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However, the essential question remains: if the market validates the approach, who really cares?

Now, let’s scrutinize the element of cost-performance.

The price range of "100,000 to 200,000" Yuan constitutes the most cut-throat arena of new energy vehiclesThis space is further occupied by the "king of competition," BYD, making it exceedingly challenging for newcomers to gain traction, yet Leap Motor has managed to carve out its place.

In a comparable price range, Leap offers more extensive features than BYD.

For example, the Leap C10, priced in the mid-ten thousand range, is equipped with Qualcomm 8295, NVIDIA Orin, and LiDAR hardware, which are nearly absent from BYD’s offerings under 200,000 Yuan.

The secret behind this compelling cost-performance comes from Leap Motor's comprehensive in-house research and development, sacrificing profit margins in the process.

Regarding the three electric systems, which make up about 60% of the entire vehicle's material costs, Leap has achieved complete self-research and manufacturingAccording to founder Zhu Jiangming, this approach provides Leap with faster technological upgrades and stronger bargaining power with suppliers.

However, the price for this cost control comes at a severe cost of profitability for Leap Motor.

In the first half of the year, Leap reported a revenue of 8.85 billion Yuan, marking a 52.2% increase, yet facing a net loss of 2.212 billion Yuan

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Cumulatively, since 2019, Leap Motor has reported losses exceeding 16.3 billion Yuan.

Some Leap Motor owners may worry that if losses continue, they might face future troubles in repairs.

So, can Leap Motor continue to survive amidst these challenges?

There’s no immediate cause for alarm.

Firstly, there are visible improvements in Leap Motor's profitability.

In the initial half of the year, the per-car loss for Leap was 25,500 Yuan, compared to 46,000 Yuan and 29,200 Yuan in 2022 and the previous year respectively.

This indicates that losses are decreasing per vehicle sold.

The automotive sector demands substantial initial investments, and thus higher sales typically yield higher profitsThis explains the frantic competition among various brands in the new energy vehicles sector.

Consequently, there's no reason to stress that Leap Motor would incur growing losses; in fact, they're losing less as they sell more.

More importantly, Leap Motor continues to receive vigorous support from state-owned assets in Zhejiang.

On the evening of October 9, Leap announced through the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that it has raised 2.6 billion Yuan through new local equity from four state-owned enterprises in Zhejiang.

In fact, as early as 2021, Hangzhou participated in Leap Motor's Pre-IPO financing; in 2022, Zhejiang and Jinhua state-owned assets again became cornerstone investors in Leap Motor's IPO.

This ongoing investment from Zhejiang is reminiscent of Anhui's early bet on NIO, aiming to enhance the local new energy vehicle industry chain through investment in industry "unicorns".

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