Modern Toddler? The Chinese car manufacturer Leapmotor will manufacture its small electric car in Poland

The European Commission’s investigation into subsidizing Chinese automakers entering European markets is further along, threatening to impose punitive tariffs of up to 25% on cars coming from the eastern country. And that would make the sanctioned cars noticeably more expensive.

Some manufacturers thus decided not to risk anything and would rather build their factories on EU territory. This was done, for example, by BYD, which chose Hungary, while the Leapmotor company signed a cooperation agreement with the Stellantis concern and will probably use the free capacities at the Stellantis factory in Tychy, Poland, where the Fiat 500 is produced, for example, starting this summer.

Assembly sets of the T03 model, which is about the size of a Dacia Spring, will travel to it from China. You might think of this model as an internal combustion engine, however, due to emissions and regulations, only the electric version will be heading to Europe.

This 74-horsepower beast should manage up to 280 km on a single charge, which in reality will be half that, but unofficially the selling price is expected to be well below half a million, which would cause wrinkles not only for Dacia, but also for Citroën, which is part of Stellantis and wants to be in Europe break through with the cheap electric model ë-C3 with a price of up to 600 thousand crowns.

The cooperation between Chinese and Western manufacturers is, of course, logical, because the pressure to produce cheap electric cars is growing, which European companies are not yet able to do, while Chinese companies usually have to face a number of negative factors in Europe, from zero infrastructure and the sword of Damocles in the form of sanctions to almost no European history, poor dealer/service network and varying customer trust.

However, Stellantis owns a 21% stake in Leapmotor, and wants to graduate this brand to the rest of the world and start with Europe. And who knows, maybe he will simply borrow a T03, call it New Polski Fiat and sell it for reasonable money to everyone who simply needs a cheap vehicle to get to work and shopping, but doesn’t want to drive a Chinese car.