The owner of Vauxhall is to launch a Chinese-made electric vehicle for just under £16,000 in Britain, in a move that experts say could herald a price war.
Stellantis said the Leapmotor T03 will go on sale in late November with a starting price of £15,995.
That will make it the second-cheapest electric car on the market – excluding quadricycle “microcars” – after the Dacia Spring, which starts at £14,995.
Like the Spring, the T03 is being predominantly marketed as a city runabout and has an expected range of 165 miles. Deliveries are expected to begin early in 2025.
It added the four-door vehicle will have “elegant and agile urban mobility designed to satisfy the needs of younger, style orientated drivers”.
As part of their joint venture deal, Stellantis and Leapmotor also said the C10 SUV, which has a bigger range of 262 miles, will simultaneously go on sale for £36,500.
The move comes as traditional Western brands including Renault and Volkswagen are also racing to launch their own more affordable EVs.
Analysts said the launch of the relatively cheap T03 was likely to mark the beginning of much tougher price competition in the EV market, something that could help further to close the existing cost disparity with petrol cars.
The average EV costs about £49,000, compared to £37,000 for an internal combustion engine car, according to the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association.
Felipe Munoz, an automotive expert at JATO Dynamics, said the T03 and Dacia Spring were still more expensive than petrol-fueled alternatives, with Dacia’s own Sandero selling for £13,795.
He added: “I still don’t see much potential for these cars. The Dacia Spring has been on the market now for two years and it has not really changed much.
“If you want an affordable city car, you can still find better combustion engine cars.
“But it is probably the start of less expensive EVs. I would not quite call these ‘affordable’ yet but it looks like the start of a new price offensive by the brands.”
He also questioned whether the T03 and C10 risked cannibalising sales of Stellantis’s existing brands, such as Vauxhall.
“What does this mean for those many other Stellantis brands in the UK?” he asked.
Andrew Bergbaum, a partner and automotive expert at consultancy AlixPartners, said the lack of trade tariffs on Chinese cars in the UK – compared to the EU and US – might also help to foster more competition as brands crowd into the market.
He said: “These are still a little expensive compared to the domestic prices back in China.
“But it is definitely a sign that there is going to be a hotting up of price competition in the EV sector, which is of course not necessarily bad for the UK or consumers.
“If you consider the fact most of the UK car industry is around sales, maintenance, insurance and so on, it could actually be quite positive overall.
“And of course, the UK is proving to be one of the relatively few western markets that is remaining open to Chinese brands, and you have got ministers saying that they will not implement tariffs.”
Stellantis said the T03 is available in one standard specification that includes cruise control, touchscreen controls, parking cameras and sensors, an electronic handbrake, a panoramic sunroof and can be charged from 30pc power to 80pc in just over half an hour.
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