Leapmotor outsold Porsche in Europe this year, and it is not close
The moment a Chinese badge stopped being a curiosity
Most Chinese brands arriving in Europe sell almost nothing in their first years, which is why registration tables tend to list them and move on. Leapmotor has just stopped being one of those. ACEA figures for the first half of 2026 put it at 48,261 registrations, a rise of 526.7 percent, and comfortably ahead of several manufacturers that have been selling here for decades.
The number
Leapmotor registered 48,261 cars across Europe in the first six months of 2026, against 7,701 in the same period of 2025. That is growth of 526.7 percent, which makes it the fastest-growing car brand in the entire European Union for the period. Percentages are easy to inflate from a small base, but the absolute figure is what makes this one worth reading twice.
Who it passed
The company now sits ahead of Porsche on 31,540, Lexus on 27,623, Honda on 27,285, Alfa Romeo on 24,272 and Mitsubishi on 15,613. That is roughly double Alfa Romeo and Honda, and more than three times Mitsubishi. A brand almost nobody in Europe had heard of three years ago is outselling Porsche across the continent.
The Stellantis factor
None of this happened purely on product merit, and it was never meant to. Leapmotor entered Europe through its partnership with Stellantis, which handed it access to an existing dealer and distribution network rather than requiring it to build one from scratch. Roughly three years from arrival to outselling Porsche is what that shortcut buys, and it is precisely why the deal was structured that way.
What it is selling
The range is broad and priced to undercut, with models including the B03X and the B05 covering the segments where European buyers actually shop. Leapmotor is not chasing halo cars or margin. It is chasing the volume end of the market with equipment levels that make established rivals look expensive.
Leapmotor is not alone
Chery's Omoda and Jaecoo brands took a combined 84,987 registrations over the same period, up 268.7 percent, which puts them ahead of MINI on 64,722 and most Japanese competitors. Two separate Chinese groups have now moved past long-established names in a single half-year, which makes this a pattern rather than an anomaly.
AutoNext Take
The Porsche comparison is the one that will travel, and it deserves a caveat: these are completely different businesses, and Porsche makes vastly more money per car than Leapmotor ever will. But the caveat cuts both ways. Porsche is cutting thousands of jobs while a brand that barely existed here in 2023 registers more cars than it does, and the reason is not that European buyers suddenly stopped caring about badges. It is that a well-equipped Leapmotor at its price is a rational purchase, and rational purchases are most of the market.
The tariffs were supposed to slow this down. What they have actually done is push Chinese manufacturers into partnerships and European factories, which is a slower route but a far more durable one. Leapmotor got there by borrowing Stellantis' dealer network, and there is no tariff that addresses that.
