Leapmotor B10 Design Long Range 2026 Review

The 2026 Leapmotor B10 Design Long Range is a rear-wheel-drive electric SUV with 160kW, a 67.1kWh battery and 434km of claimed range, and until 30 September 2026 it’s $41,990 drive-away. The ride is quiet and smooth, impressive at the price, my week averaged 13.1kWh/100km, and the glass roof, 360-degree camera and 5-star ANCAP rating are standard on both grades. Worth weighing up before you buy: the 12-speaker stereo tears from about a third of the volume, too much day-to-day stuff lives in the touchscreen, and without the phone app set up you’re tapping a keycard on the mirror to get in. We scored it 7.4 out of 10.

I drove the bigger Leapmotor C10 last year, and a week in the Leapmotor B10 Design Long Range felt very familiar. Same family look, same feel, same behaviour, just a bit smaller. The front space barely changed. The back seat is where the size went. Otherwise it behaves and feels like a smaller C10, which is no bad thing.

It’s $40,888 before on-road costs, and until the end of September 2026 Leapmotor is selling it for $41,990 drive-away in Light White or Starry Night Blue, which is what mine was. That puts it among the cheapest electric SUVs in Australia, in the same money as the BYD Atto 3, MG S5 EV, Geely EX5 and Kia EV3. Most of those drive their front wheels. This one doesn’t.

A week with the Leapmotor B10

The keycard got irritating. I never set up the phone app, so getting in meant tapping the NFC card on the driver’s mirror. You don’t realise how much you rely on walk-up unlocking, or opening the boot from a distance, until you can’t do it with a card. The app gives you a Bluetooth key. Without it, you tap. By the end of the week I’d developed a relationship with the driver’s mirror.

Charging was a non-issue. I plugged into a DC fast charger mid-week at 16 percent with 69km showing, and the screen said 1 hour 20 minutes remaining. Finding a fast charger is getting easier, with more servos adding them, and I had no range anxiety in this car.

The home screen at the end of my run read 121.6km, 4 hours 21 minutes of driving and 13.1kWh/100km, in ordinary mixed driving. Leapmotor’s WLTP figure is 17.3kWh/100km. A trip computer and a lab test don’t measure the same thing, but 13.1 is very good for an SUV.

The stereo got a proper go, because I care about sound and 12 speakers with a boot woofer looked promising on paper. It’s serviceable at best. And the ambient lighting is OK but a little dull, even maxed out.

What does the Leapmotor B10 look like?

It looks like a shrunken C10. Full-width LED light bars front and rear, flush door handles, clean sides, 18-inch alloys. At 4,515mm long and 1,885mm wide it’s a small SUV. Mine was Starry Night Blue, one of five optional colours. Light White is the only no-cost paint, though the current drive-away deal covers the blue as well.

Nothing gives away how little it costs.

What is the Leapmotor B10 like inside?

Inside is familiar Leapmotor, much like the C10. A minimalist dash with the 14.6-inch touchscreen and an 8.8-inch driver display, a floating centre console, and green-ringed air vents. The Design gets perforated TechnoLeather seats in light grey, heated and ventilated up front and power adjusted on both sides, plus a heated steering wheel. They punch above the price.

The glass roof is the best bit. It’s fixed, it runs over both rows, it has an electric blind, and it’s standard on both grades. At this price it’s a great inclusion.

The ambient lighting is OK but a little dull, even maxed out. The brochure calls it multi-colour. Maxed out, it’s more of a suggestion. Space up front is good, and barely changed from the C10.

Storage

The floating console leaves an open shelf underneath. Up top there’s a wireless charging pad, two cupholders, a covered console box and door bins. Under the bonnet Leapmotor quotes 25 litres, which is a frunk in the same way a glovebox is a wardrobe, and both a Mode 2 and a Mode 3 charging cable come with the car. Vehicle-to-load runs at up to 3.3kW.

Rear seat and boot space

The back seat is where the size went. It’s trimmed like the front, in the same perforated TechnoLeather, with a fold-down centre armrest and cupholders, rear air vents, a USB-A and a USB-C port, ISOFIX points and top tethers. It doesn’t have the stretch-out room of the C10 a size up.

The boot is 490 litres with the seats up and 1,475 litres with the 40/60 split folded, on a flat floor behind a power tailgate that’s standard on the Design. There’s a luggage cover, and a tyre inflator kit in the floor rather than a spare wheel.

Technology and connectivity

The screen runs almost everything, including the things a button did perfectly well for the last forty years. For mundane tasks that’s a chore. Too much is buried in the 14.6-inch touchscreen. Android Auto is wired, not wireless. I don’t mind that. Wired drops out less than wireless does. The 360-degree camera doubles as a dashcam and is standard on both grades. Built-in navigation, DAB+ radio, in-car Wi-Fi and over-the-air updates are all in.

The audio is not good, and I say that as someone who cares about sound. On paper it’s 12 speakers and a woofer in the boot. In practice it’s serviceable at best. From about 30 percent volume you can hear it tearing. It can’t hold the highs up while the bass is playing low. It manages the mids and a touch of bass, then gives out on the highs. Crank it and it just stops getting louder. Twelve speakers, a woofer in the boot, and a volume ceiling they all seem to have agreed on. Fine for day-to-day background music. Not a system you’d want to turn up and blast your favourite song on.

Highlighted Features

• Panoramic glass roof: fixed, full-length, with an electric blind, standard on both grades.
• 360-degree camera and dashcam: surround view with a see-through chassis view, and it records.
• Vehicle to load: up to 3.3kW of household power out of the car.
• Rear-wheel drive: a single rear motor, where most rivals at the price drive the front wheels.

Engine and drivetrain

A single permanent-magnet motor on the rear axle makes 160kW and 240Nm, for a claimed 0 to 100km/h of 8.0 seconds and a 170km/h top speed. The battery is 67.1kWh of lithium iron phosphate, a chemistry that’s happy being charged to 100 percent regularly, and Leapmotor claims 434km on the WLTP cycle at 17.3kWh/100km. The cheaper Style has the same motor with a 56.2kWh pack for a claimed 361km.

Charging is respectable for the class. DC peaks at 168kW, and Leapmotor quotes 30 to 80 percent in about 20 minutes on a charger that can deliver it. On the 150kW units most Australian sites run, budget a little longer. The onboard AC charger is 11kW, so a full charge on a home wallbox takes about six and a half hours, and there’s a heat pump for cold mornings. The charge port sits in the front-left guard.

What’s the Leapmotor B10 like to drive?

It’s quiet and smooth. Not thrilling, but not trying to be. Sensible and composed. The ride is the standout, and it’s impressive at the price. There’s enough pace when you need it, a bit behind it for making a gap or overtaking, without being a performance car.

The rear-wheel drive is noticeable and welcome. You can sense it pushing you along rather than pulling, a different sensation to a front-driver, and it makes slow, tight turns feel less touchy. No tug through the wheel from the front tyres. It’s a small thing, until you go back to a front-driver and notice the steering wheel has opinions again.

There are three levels of regen, three accelerator modes and three steering modes, all set through the screen. The lane centring did a fairly good job. Quietly competent, not tugging, not annoying. The bings and bongs were OK too, which isn’t true of every rival.

Is the Leapmotor B10 safe?

The B10 carries a 5-star ANCAP rating from 2025 that covers both grades: 93 percent for adult occupant protection, 95 percent for child occupant protection, 84 percent for vulnerable road users and 86 percent for safety assist. The rating runs to December 2031. Seven airbags are standard, including a far-side airbag between the front seats, plus ISOFIX and top tethers in the back.

Leapmotor calls the driver-assist suite LEAP Pilot, and it’s the same 17 features on both grades. It didn’t nag. The alerts weren’t intrusive.

• Autonomous emergency braking, front collision warning and multi-collision braking
• Adaptive cruise control, lane centring, traffic jam assist and emergency lane keeping (Level 2)
• Blind spot detection, rear cross traffic alert with braking, rear collision warning and door opening warning
• Intelligent speed assist, driver drowsiness and distraction warning, hands-off detection, tyre pressure monitoring and the 360-degree camera

How much does the Leapmotor B10 cost?

The Design Long Range is $40,888 before on-road costs and the Style is $37,888. Right now Leapmotor’s drive-away sale has them at $41,990 and $38,990, on new and demonstrator cars in Light White or Starry Night Blue, for cars bought and delivered by 30 September 2026 or while stocks last. Government and rental buyers are excluded. After that, expect the drive-away figure to move, because these offers come and go.

The extra $3,000 for the Design buys the bigger battery, faster DC charging, the 12-speaker audio, TechnoLeather, power front seats, the heated wheel and heated and ventilated front seats, a power tailgate, privacy glass and the ambient lighting. Leapmotor has spent nearly all of the $3,000 on things you can see. The glass roof, the 360 camera, the 14.6-inch screen, vehicle to load and the full safety suite are standard on both.

How much does the Leapmotor B10 cost to run?

The ownership package is strong for the price. Every B10 gets a 6-year, 150,000km warranty, with the high-voltage battery covered for 8 years or 160,000km. Servicing is every 12 months or 20,000km, capped for eight years, with visits between about $296 and $441 and an average of roughly $369 a year. Roadside assistance runs for eight years alongside it.

The efficiency was one of the good surprises. At the 13.1kWh/100km I saw, charging at home on a typical 33 cents a kilowatt hour works out to about $4.32 per 100km. On a cheap overnight EV plan at 8 cents it’s about $1.05. Public DC at around 75 cents is closer to $9.83. Use Leapmotor’s WLTP figure of 17.3 instead and the home number is about $5.71. Either way, charging at home is where the savings are.

Final thoughts

This is a practical, sensible everyday car for someone who wants to see what EV ownership is like without breaking the bank. That’s who it’s for. It’s quiet, it’s efficient, and the rear-drive makes it nicer at low speed than the front-drivers it’s up against. The glass roof, the safety rating and the running costs are the draws at the money.

The stereo and the keycard are the two things I’d want you to know about before you sign. If the back seat is going to carry adults regularly, the C10 is the natural step up. If you want smaller and cheaper again, the Hyundai Inster is there, and the Xpeng G6 is the value pick a size up. The Atto 3, the S5 EV and the EV3 are the ones to cross-shop at this money, and the EV3 is the only one of them I’ve driven.

As a first EV, it’s one of the easiest ways in.

2026 Leapmotor B10 — Frequently Asked Questions

How far does the 2026 Leapmotor B10 Design go on a charge?
Leapmotor claims 434km on the WLTP cycle from the Design Long Range and its 67.1kWh lithium iron phosphate battery, at 17.3kWh/100km. In our week of mixed driving the trip computer showed 13.1kWh/100km over 121.6km, which points to roughly 500km of real-world range on a gentle run. The cheaper Style uses a 56.2kWh battery for a claimed 361km.

How much does the 2026 Leapmotor B10 cost in Australia?
The B10 Design Long Range is $40,888 before on-road costs and the Style is $37,888. For cars bought and delivered by 30 September 2026, Leapmotor is offering the Design Long Range at $41,990 drive-away and the Style at $38,990 drive-away, on new and demonstrator cars in Light White or Starry Night Blue. Either way it is one of the cheapest electric SUVs on sale in Australia.

Is the Leapmotor B10 rear-wheel drive?
Yes. Every B10 uses a single rear-mounted permanent-magnet motor, so it is rear-wheel drive, where most rivals at this price drive the front wheels. Both grades make 160kW and 240Nm, with a claimed 0 to 100km/h time of 8.0 seconds and a 170km/h top speed.

Is the Leapmotor B10 safe?
Yes. The B10 carries a 5-star ANCAP rating from 2025 that applies to both grades, with 93 percent for adult occupant protection, 95 percent for child occupant protection, 84 percent for vulnerable road users and 86 percent for safety assist. Seven airbags and 17 driver-assist features, including autonomous emergency braking and lane centring, are standard.

For the latest pricing and to book a test drive, head to the official Leapmotor Australia site.