China’s Jetour & Leapmotor Eye Sales, Production Expansion in Europe

Upstart Chinese auto brands Jetour and Leapmotor are both reportedly aiming expansion in sales and establishing production in Europe.

Upstart Chinese auto brands Jetour and Leapmotor are both reportedly  expanding their presence across Europe – the world’s third biggest car market.

Starting with Jetour, the Chery-owned brand reportedly marked its debut in the Old Continent by entering Poland first this week. The firm will start sales in said market with three of its core crossover SUV offerings, namely the three-row X70 Plus (VT9 in Malaysia), Dashing C-SUV and the rugged T2 off-roader.

Jetour recently debuted in the 'Old Continent' by entering Poland earlier this week. There, it launched its three core SUV offerings - the Dashing (top, left), X70 Plus (VT9)(top, right) and T2 (above).

"Poland is a very important market for us," said Yan Jun, executive vice president of Jetour International, during the brand’s official launch event held recently in Poland’s capital of Warsaw. "We think the Polish market has the greatest potential in Europe," added the exec further.

Jetour entered Poland through a local distributor and aims to establish 30 dealerships there by mid-2026. By starting sales here with its combustion (ICE) models first, the brand has avoided stiff tariffs set by the European Union (EU) – tariffs aimed towards Chinese-made EVs.

Jetour Malaysia CKD pictured. The Chery-owned sub-brand has also committed to establishing production in Europe should sales there prove promising.

Standing as an emerging market in Europe, car sales in Poland reportedly grew 5.8% year-on-year (YoY) in the first eight months of 2025. Jetour also reportedly said prior that if sales prove promising, it will also seek to produce vehicles locally in the continent too.

With its 2024 global sales totaling at 560,000 units, Jetour is expected to raise that total up to 800,000 units this year by entering more new markets worldwide like Poland. The brand is also expected to expand further elsewhere across Europe too.

Euro-bound Leapmotor B10 (left) and its recently revealed Leapmotor B05 hatchback offshoot (right). Both will reportedly be built in Spain starting next year (2026).

Moving to Leapmotor, the Stellantis-backed Chinese EV-making start-up is reportedly aiming to establish a production base in Europe. Critically, this will allow the automaker to dodge additional 20.7% it has to pay in tariffs for importing EVs from China to EU.

According to Automotive News Europe, Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa confirmed that Leapmotor will set up a production site in Spain from 2026. The exec, however, did not confirm if the effort involves any of Stellantis’ existing production sites, nor did he confirm which model will be built.

The same report does indicate Stellantis will repurpose its Zaragoza plant for this. Said facility in Spain’s Aragon region is a strong candidate given its planned expansion to include a new €4.1 billion gigafactory for LFP batteries – part of Stellantis’ joint venture with Chinese supplier CATL. 

The B10 electric C-SUV model stands as the strongest candidate at being the first Leapmotor model to be built in Spain.

As for model, the marque’s B10 electric C-SUV is the most likely model to be produced built initially in Spain. Together with its new B05 hatchback offshoot, both are tipped to benefit from work done by partners Stellantis’ European R&D facilities and make them ‘Euro-friendly’ products.

Certainly, the integration with Stellantis has given Leapmotor a huge advantage for its efforts in the Old Continent. As a refresher, Stellantis owns a majority of the Leapmotor brand’s international rights through their Leapmotor International joint venture.