Leapmotor B05 electric hot hatch makes NZ debut at Fieldays

Chinese carmaker Leapmotor has revealed the next new model its adding to its New Zealand line-up, the fully electric B05 ‘hot hatch’. 

Debuting this week at Fieldays, the B05 is the first non-SUV Leapmotor to enter the New Zealand market, sitting alongside the B10 compact crossover and C10 mid-size SUV. 

The B05’s electric powertrain develops 160kW of power and 240Nm of torque, with that output sent to its rear wheels. 

It makes use of two different batteries; a 56.2kWh battery pack with an unnamed range figure, and a 67.1kWh battery pack with a WLTP-rated range figure of 480km. 

The B05’s hot hatch credentials include multi-link suspension that Leapmotor  says provides “engaging handling and responsive steering”. It also has a 50:50 weight distribution. 

The B05 will be priced at launch from $43,990 plus on-road costs for the Life variant with the smaller 56.2kWh battery, with the top spec Design variant priced from $47,990. Leapmotor has confirmed that these are ‘launch prices’. 

Whilst there aren’t many fully electric hot hatches on the market, there are a handful. The Abarth 500e and MG4 XPower are an obvious point of reference for the B05. On the flipside, Cupra recently phased out the Born.