The Leapmotor B10 just got faster. And smarter. And it still costs the same as the old version.
China has received an update for its best-selling electric SUV. The changes are specific. They focus on the battery. The voltage architecture. The screen in the middle of the dash. They don’t change the sticker price. Not yet.
This matters because the B10 is already the bread and butter for Leapmotor in Australia. It outsells the larger C10 by a mile. Two-thirds of all sales here were this small five-door SUV between January and June of last year. It’s competing directly with the MG S5 EV and the BYD Atto 2. Price-sensitive buyers. People who want range but won’t break the bank.
The entry-level update
The base model, the Style trim, gets the biggest boost. It now runs an 180kW motor. That is up from the previous 160kW. Torque jumps to 255Nm from 240Nm.
What does that do?
The zero to 100km/h sprint drops to 6.6 seconds. The old car took 8.0 seconds. That is a noticeable difference when you are merging onto a highway or passing on a rural road. You feel the punch.
The battery is larger, too. A 60.8kWh lithiumironphosphate pack replaces the previous 56.2kWh unit. Claimed range under the China Light-Duty Vehicle Test Cycle (CLTC) hits 540km. That is a 30km increase.
Don’t get too excited about CLTC numbers though. They are softer. Less harsh than the WLTP standard used in Australia. The current Australian Style is rated at 361km on WLTP. A 30km gain in the softer Chinese test usually translates to about 20km extra in real-world driving conditions. It is still a gain. But it is not magic.
Why 800V architecture matters
The real story here is the mid-to-high-spec models. Leapmotor has introduced an 800-volt electrical network to the higher grades in China. This is the tech that makes fast charging actually usable.
The mid-spec B10 stays on 400 volts. But the upper trims get the overhaul.
They carry a larger 69.7kLFP battery. That is up from 67.1kLFP. Range climbs to 610km (CLTC). A 10km bump there is tiny on paper. But the charging speed is the headline.
With 800V, you can charge from 30% to 80% in 16 minutes. The 400V models take 21 minutes. That five-minute gap is huge if you are doing long-distance trips. You stop for a coffee. You top up. You leave. No more sitting there waiting for the last 20% of juice to trickle in.
Cabin tech gets a makeover
Inside the cabin, Leapmotor is playing the screen game.
The old 14.6-inch central display with 2.5K resolution is gone. It is replaced by a 17.3-inch 3K panel. It is bigger. Sharper. Likely faster to respond.
It sits next to a redesigned 8.8-inch driver display. But the gimmick is the 55-inch augmented reality head-up display. It projects data onto the windshield. You don’t have to look away from the road to see navigation arrows or speed.
Standard equipment like the 360-degree camera and the panoramic glass roof remains. Safety features haven’t changed, obviously. The flagship model keeps the LiDAR sensor for advanced driver assistance. That gives you adaptive cruise control, lane-change assist, and rear autonomous emergency braking.
What about Australia?
Here is the rub. These upgrades are currently only confirmed for the Chinese market. Leapmotor hasn’t said they are coming Down Under. Yet.
In February 2026, Australian B10 owners did get an over-the-air update. It improved the smoothness of the driver-assist features. It added one-pedal driving. And it finally brought wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto to the party.
The Australian flagship, the Design trim, currently takes 7.5 seconds for zero to 100. The new Chinese version does it in 6.4 seconds. A full 1.1 seconds faster. If Leapmotor brings this tech to Australia, the local car could become significantly more competitive against rivals like the MG S5 or BYD Atto.
For now, Australian buyers wait. The B10 remains a volume seller. It helped the brand post a 152.1% year-on-year sales jump. People are buying it. But they might be buying the version with the smaller battery. The slower charging. The smaller screen.
Unless they update their Australian lineup, too. Which seems like the only logical next step for a company that wants to keep winning.
Is it worth waiting for the upgrade? Or is the current car good enough? The base model was already competitive. But that 800V charging… that changes how you use an EV. It removes one of the last big anxieties for new buyers. Range anxiety is one thing. Charging time anxiety is another. Leapmotor just solved it in China.
Australia just needs to catch up.
