Chinese electric vehicle maker Leapmotor plans to grow its South African business in 2027, its international CEO Danilo Annese said. The company also wants to grow in other African markets, with Egypt next on its list.
Leapmotor will use the dealer network and local operations of its partner Stellantis. It will not set up separate dealerships of its own, according to the report by TimesLIVE.
“It’s a complex market. We want to enter in a proper way,” Annese said in an interview at the Paris Motor Show.
“I think we are relatively young, and we need to find the key to convince the South African customers on the brand values, as we have done in other countries,” he said.
Annese said the brand could not simply copy the plans it used in Europe. He said Leapmotor was working with its local team to find out what would appeal to South African drivers.
Stellantis has 34 dealerships across the country. It plans to grow that number to about 48 over the next two years.
Leapmotor has a target of 1-million vehicle sales. Annese said it was too early to say how much of that would come from emerging markets such as South Africa.
“Today, year-to-date international markets represent 22% of the results of Leapmotor,” he said. He added that the share was expected to be higher by the end of the year.
Europe is the company’s biggest international region, followed by South America. Emerging markets make up a smaller part of sales.
“But we are far from the potential we can have in these countries, including South Africa,” Annese said. “We will be there, and we will be closer to South African customers… to improve the overall performance.”
Leapmotor will keep selling battery-electric vehicles and range-extender electric vehicles. It does not plan to add conventional petrol models.
A range-extender vehicle uses an electric motor to drive the wheels. It also has a combustion engine on board that makes electricity when needed.
Annese said this technology could appeal to buyers in places where charging networks are still being built, especially people living outside big cities. He said similar concerns had come up in some European markets.
“As the adoption of BEVs grows, the infrastructure will follow,” he said.
Leapmotor was founded in China in 2015 and entered the South African market in October last year. Stellantis, which also owns Fiat, Opel, Peugeot and Citroën, partly owns the company.
Under its FaSTLAne 2030 strategy, Stellantis is targeting a 40% rise in revenue in the Middle East and Africa. It wants to get there through more local manufacturing and a smaller range of models.
Stellantis said that by 2030, about 90% of the vehicles it sells in South Africa would come from the Africa and Middle East region or from Asia. The company aims to lift its South African market share from about 1.5% to between 4% and 5% by 2030.
Source: this article is based on reporting by TimesLIVE. Image: TimesLIVE. Written with the help of AI and published by the Tzaneen Voice Business desk. See our Editorial Standards.
Anelisa Nkuna covers business and money news for Tzaneen Voice. Anelisa reports on the rand, fuel prices, interest rates, jobs, Eskom, Transnet, farming and company results. The aim is simple: explain what the numbers mean for household budgets, small businesses and workers in South Africa.