Leapmotor B03 due in UK in 2027 with price below £25,000

Leapmotor will launch its B03 electric supermini in the UK in early 2027, with an expected starting price in the low £20,000s. Final pricing for the Chinese manufacturer's new small car has yet to be announced.

The arrival will give UK buyers another electric option below £25,000 if that price expectation is met, competing with the Renault 5 and Volkswagen ID Polo, as reported by Autocar.

What happened

The UK-bound B03 will have a 53kWh battery powering a front-mounted electric motor. Output is 194bhp, with 148lb ft of torque, and the quoted 0–62mph acceleration time is 7.6 seconds.

At 4,175mm long and 1,790mm wide, the car has a turning circle of 9.8 metres. That is close to the Dacia Spring's turning circle, giving the B03 a useful measure of manoeuvrability for urban driving.

Leapmotor plans to sell the car in a single UK trim. Standard equipment will include 17-inch alloy wheels, LED lighting, a 360-degree camera and automatic air conditioning.

Heated seats, a heated steering wheel and synthetic leather upholstery are also included. Buyers will not need to move to a higher specification to obtain those features under the planned one-trim offering.

Inside, most controls are handled through a 14.6-inch central touchscreen, with few physical buttons or switches. The layout follows the minimalist approach used elsewhere in Leapmotor's range.

The front passenger seat folds fully flat to accommodate longer loads. The rear seat base can also be lifted to create space for bulky objects, including bicycles carried upright across the cabin.

Boot capacity is 405 litres, supplemented by a separate 90-litre storage area beneath the floor. Leapmotor has also incorporated 30 storage spaces around the interior.

The background

The B03 is already on sale in China under the A05 name. Its UK introduction will make it the sixth Leapmotor model destined for this market.

Within the manufacturer's line-up, it will sit between the smaller T03 and the recently launched B03X. Compared with the B03X, the new supermini is both smaller and lower-slung.

Its intended competition places it in the small electric hatchback market rather than solely among the smallest city cars. The Renault 5 and Volkswagen ID Polo are the named rivals for its combination of size, price and battery range.

What people are saying

Leapmotor puts the B03's range at up to 242 miles from its 53kWh battery. That is a manufacturer claim rather than an independently established result in the reported specifications.

The company also quotes a maximum charging rate of 133kW and says a 10–80% charge can take 21 minutes. The charging time relates to that partial battery top-up, not a full charge from empty.

For drivers waiting at a charger, the driver's seat can recline to an almost horizontal position. This is a separate function from the passenger seat's forward-folding arrangement for carrying long items.

What happens next

Official UK pricing will be released closer to the early-2027 launch. Until then, the low-£20,000s starting figure remains an expectation rather than a confirmed retail price, leaving buyers unable to make a firm purchase-cost comparison with its rivals.