On August 1st, sales data for July for various new energy vehicle brands were released.

Leapmotor Cars revealed its July "achievements" first — 101,267 units, a year-on-year increase of 102%, equivalent to more than double the same period last year.

Leapmotor broke through the 100,000-unit delivery threshold for the first time, becoming the first vehicle manufacturer in the history of China's new car makers to achieve single-month deliveries exceeding 100,000 units.

The drama lies in: Xpeng 38,027 units, NIO 35,934 units, Li Auto 30,468 units — the former "Top 3 of NIO, Xpeng, and Li Auto" now only match Leapmotor when combined. Li Auto even saw double declines month-on-month and year-on-month for three consecutive months. Once the top dog among new forces, it is now far behind Leapmotor by more than three times.

Even Huawei's "Harmony Intelligence" alliance ("Five Realms"), which claimed to "lead far ahead," had July sales of 45,046 units.

Many car enthusiasts only realized at this point: When did Leapmotor become this amazing?

01. Others Make Money from Branding, Leapmotor Makes Money from "Factory" Costs

The core reason Leapmotor has reached today is four words: Full-Stack Self-Research.

Many people don't grasp these four words, thinking isn't it just about developing things yourself? But what Leapmotor does is far more extreme than most imagine.

As of now, Leapmotor's self-developed and manufactured parts account for 65% of the total vehicle BOM cost. What does that mean? From the core "three-electrics" (battery, electric drive, electric control) to smart cockpits, smart driving, and electronic architecture, extending to compressors, headlights, seats, bumpers, and on-board power supplies—things traditionally thought unnecessary to build in-house—as long as the value is high enough, Leapmotor does it all itself.

Zhu Jiangming calculated a figure: Based on the industry average gross margin of 15% for auto parts, just from self-research, Leapmotor's cost per vehicle is about 10% lower than competitors.

What does this 10% mean? It means with the same configuration, Leapmotor can be 10,000 to 20,000 cheaper than others and still make money; while selling at this price causes others to lose money, Leapmotor can still maintain a healthy gross margin.

This is not a marketing gimmick; it is a manufacturing gene carved into Zhu Jiangming's bones. Many may have forgotten that before making cars, Zhu Jiangming was one of the founders of Dahua Technology, engaged in security manufacturing for decades. What was the environment of the security industry? Price wars down to the bone, squeezing costs penny by penny. Others see suppliers that need management; Zhu Jiangming sees how much profit from middlemen can be squeezed out.

A classic example is headlights. When Leapmotor made its first car, supplier quotes were several thousand yuan per set. Zhu Jiangming led the team to calculate it themselves, using Dahua's embedded technology accumulation to self-develop, ultimately cutting the cost in half.

So you find Leapmotor's cars strange: Why is the configuration higher and the price lower than others? It's not Leapmotor losing money to shout for sales; it's because it gives all the profit from the middle of the supply chain to consumers. In Zhu Jiangming's own words: "We just make money from being a contract factory, everything else goes to the users."

02. Does Leapmotor Have Its Own Core Technologies?

Many people have a misconception about Leapmotor, thinking it relies solely on cheapness and lacks technology.

This is actually the biggest misunderstanding.

Low price is just the result; behind it is a whole self-developed technology system supporting it.

The most core is the "Cloverleaf" Central Integrated Electronic Electrical Architecture. This is complex if complicated, simple if simple: Traditional cars use a distributed architecture where dozens of ECUs manage their own tasks; Leapmotor uses one SOC chip plus one MCU to integrate the functions of the Cockpit, Smart Driving, Powertrain, and Chassis four domains together.

What is ruthless is that this architecture isn't just for flagship models; even the 100,000-level A10 has it as standard, which was unthinkable in the past.

With centralized architecture, the whole vehicle's response speed, OTA capability, and failure rate will be much better, and costs will drop instead.

Next is CTC 2.0 Plus Battery-Chassis Integration Technology. Leapmotor is one of the earliest Chinese vehicle manufacturers to mass-produce CTC; now cumulative installations exceed 500,000 units. Simply put, the battery is integrated directly with the chassis, removing the traditional battery pack cover, saving space and reducing weight while increasing body rigidity. Regarding safety, Leapmotor's battery achieves thermal runaway prevention for 48 hours without fire or explosion, which is 24 times the new national standard.

Regarding the three-electrics, Leapmotor's intelligent oil-cooled electric drive is fully self-developed and manufactured. The 8-in-1 integration degree is higher than the industry mainstream 3-in-1 or 6-in-1, with better efficiency and reliability. The 800V High-Voltage SiC platform is not exclusive to high-end cars; from the 200,000-level C series to the 100,000-level B series, everything needed is included. Coupled with 4C supercharging, the energy replenishment speed fully matches the first tier.

Smart driving was previously Leapmotor's weak point, but now it has caught up. The combination of LiDAR + Qualcomm 8650 smart driving chips can already achieve full-scenario navigation from parking spot to parking spot, and it is standard with permanent free use. In September's Technology Day, Leapmotor will also launch the next-generation smart driving based on world models, directly benchmarking the industry's first tier.

To put it plainly, Leapmotor isn't without technology; it puts all technology where users can touch it, rather than spending on marketing and brand premium.

03. Covering Everything from 60,000 to 300,000, This Is the Greatest Open Strategy

Leapmotor's second smart move is that it never had the "baggage of a new force" mindset.

When other new forces started, almost all focused on the high-end market above 300,000 yuan, talking about brand, tone, and user circles, as if they weren't qualified as new forces if they didn't sell a bit more expensive. Result? As soon as the market fluctuates and high-end consumption power drops, sales immediately come under pressure. Li Auto's current predicament is largely because its products are all stuck above 300,000 yuan, unable to go up or down.

Leapmotor is different; it never thought about doing only high-end from the start. Now Leapmotor's product matrix, A, B, C, D four series, covers from the 60,000 yuan entry-level car all the way to the flagship MPV above 300,000 yuan, covering all mainstream price bands without missing a single one.

The sales structure of the just-ended July explains the problem well:

1. A-series A10, monthly sales near 30,000 units; this is Leapmotor's basic base, firmly grasping the widest range of entry-level users;

2. B-series broke 20,000 units in July, with global cumulative sales already reaching 250,000 units;

3. C-series C10 global monthly sales steadily break 10,000, C-series cumulative sales reached 850,000 units;

4. High-end D19 monthly sales broke 10,000, newly launched MPV D99, the average price of the first batch of orders went directly to over 300,000 yuan.

Low-end cars drive volume to dilute costs, mid-range cars contribute profits, high-end cars build brand image, forming a complete pyramid across the entire price band.

Unlike other new forces that walk on one leg and wobble when the market changes, this is the most terrifying part of Leapmotor.

Many people look down on low-end cars, thinking 60,000 or 80,000 yuan cars don't make money.

But the fact is, it is precisely these volume-driving entry models that supported Leapmotor's supply chain scale.

The larger the scale, the lower the cost of self-developed parts; the lower the cost, the more competitive the product, then selling more — this is a positive cycle.

Now this cycle is already turning.

04. Leapmotor's Overseas Business Is More Intense Than Anyone Thinks

Many only see Leapmotor selling well domestically, failing to notice its overseas business has quietly become the number one among new forces.

Leapmotor's internationalization follows the "borrowing a boat to go overseas" route in cooperation with Stellantis. No need to build channels from scratch; directly use Stellantis' dealer network globally. Now Leapmotor has entered 35 countries and regions worldwide, with over 800 overseas sales service outlets.

In 2025, Leapmotor exported 60,000 units for the full year, the most among new forces. This year the speed is even faster; in July, it just started delivery in Mexico and announced local KD assembly production in Indonesia.

In Europe, Leapmotor B10 sells starting from €29,900, which converts to over 230,000 RMB, more than double the domestic price, yet it still sells well — in the Italian market, 1 out of every 3 pure electric cars is a Leapmotor B10.

Zhu Jiangming's goal is even more exaggerated; he says Leapmotor's future overseas sales share must account for 60% of total sales. What does that mean?

If Leapmotor really achieves annual sales of 1 million units next year, that is 600,000 units for export; this number is something even many traditional car manufacturers cannot achieve now.

In contrast, other new forces' overseas efforts, NIO and Xpeng, are still in a small-scale trial phase; Li Auto basically hasn't gone overseas at all. When the domestic market is fighting fiercely, Leapmotor has already opened a second battlefield overseas, using domestic cost advantages to fight the overseas market; this is another dimensional strike.

05. Does Leapmotor Have Weaknesses?

Monthly sales of 100,000 is naturally not the endpoint; Leapmotor itself knows very well where the weaknesses lie.

Previously many complained Leapmotor's smart driving was average, after all, money was spent on hardware and three-electrics, so software algorithm investment came relatively later.

But Zhu Jiangming has already announced that this September on Leapmotor Technology Day, Leapmotor will release a smart driving system based on world models and will catch up on smart driving.

In addition, the all-new model A05 will be released in August, making the product matrix denser.

From monthly sales of a few hundred units 6 years ago to 100,000 units today, the path Leapmotor took is actually not fresh at all — it's just the traditional manufacturing model: keep technology in your own hands, bring costs down, spread products fully, and take the market to the whole world.

It's just that in the industry where everyone wants to tell new stories and overtake on a bend, there are too few willing to put in this kind of hard work.

While other new forces were still struggling hard for monthly sales of 30,000 or 40,000 units, Leapmotor has quietly set its goal at annual sales of 1 million, even 4 million in the future.

Now looking back, it's not that Leapmotor suddenly became popular; it's just the harvest season.

Now looking back, it's not that Leapmotor suddenly became popular; it's just the harvest season.