Leapmotor starts building cars in Spain

Editor's note

New vehicle programmes with named start dates pulled parts makers into new lines and new jobs last week, in Aragon and in South Carolina. The Federal Reserve's September figures showed US motor vehicle and parts output down 3%, even as overall factory output rose. In Essex, a supplier of low-volume parts to premium carmakers broke ground on a factory that will bring its scattered sites under one roof. In Linz, a track machine builder opened the largest investment in its history while its chief executive warned about the cost of building in Austria. And in two of the UK's defence regions, Babcock and BAE Systems set up a way to pass on apprenticeship applicants they can't take to the smaller firms that need them.

1. Supply chain — Leapmotor's B10 is in production at Stellantis Zaragoza

Leapmotor's B10 SUV went into series production on Friday 16 October on its own line at Stellantis's Figueruelas plant, Leapmotor's first Spanish-built car. Stellantis had assembled the smaller T03 in Poland until March 2025. Danilo Annese, who runs Leapmotor International, the 51/49 Stellantis-led joint venture, put the share of components made locally above 40%, La Tribuna de Automoción and elEconomista reported. Chassis come from a Fagor Ederlan and Duoli Technology plant in Borja that opened on 29 September, and battery modules from the joint venture's own workshop in Mallén. One shift of about 400 people runs the line for now. Both Spanish outlets said the compact B05 follows in the first quarter of 2027. ABC reported that the Madrid plant is due to pass to Leapmotor International in 2028. Today's daily has the detail.

The 40%-plus figure counts components. The proposed 70% Made in Europe test for publicly bought or subsidised cars counts component value, not including the battery.

2. Supply chain — Seven South Carolina suppliers will spend $82m to supply Scout

Seven parts makers in Upstate South Carolina said on Wednesday 14 October that they will invest a combined $82 million in their existing plants in Spartanburg, Duncan and Piedmont and hire about 200 people to supply Scout Motors, the Volkswagen-owned brand building an assembly plant at Blythewood, the SC Daily Gazette reported. Spartanburg Steel accounts for almost half, with a $40 million expansion and 60 jobs. The others are Magna DRIVE, KV Final, Röchling Automotive, Magna Mirrors, Cooper Standard and Bant Boru, and the work covers stampings, panels, mirrors, wheel-arch liners, glass seals and brake lines. All seven already supply other carmakers in the state, including BMW. Scout says test vehicles come off the line by the end of this year, with sales expected in 2028 and capacity of 200,000 vehicles a year.

The wider US picture was softer for the car trade. The Federal Reserve said on 16 October that manufacturing output rose 0.3% in September, but motor vehicle and parts output fell 3.0%. Durable manufacturing output grew at an annual rate of 3.8% in the third quarter, helped by a 28.4% annualised rise in semiconductors and related parts. Manufacturing capacity use was 75.9%, 2.3 points below its long-run average.

For a US stamping or trim buyer, Scout is new volume with a 2028 date on it, while the September figures show the rest of the vehicle market slowing.

3. Supply chain — TECNIQ breaks ground on a new factory in Maldon

TECNIQ, the Essex company formerly called ADP Special Products, broke ground on a new factory and headquarters at Oval Park near Maldon on Thursday 15 October, its majority owner Tioopo Capital said. TECNIQ designs, engineers and makes low-volume parts for premium carmakers, including injection-moulded parts, leather and Alcantara trim, structural and non-structural carbon fibre, coatings and laser marking. It now works from several sites in Witham covering more than 100,000 sq ft, which it has outgrown. The new building will put design, tooling, prototyping, testing and production on one site. Phase one, on the south plot, is due to be finished in mid-2027, and the neighbouring plot will be developed as programmes grow. Tioopo Capital bought a majority stake in March 2025. Since then, it said, TECNIQ has doubled its revenue and grown from 190 to more than 330 staff, and it is aiming for more than £100 million of revenue, without giving a date. The company has 16 apprentices, trained with Colchester Institute.

A UK supplier of trim and composite parts for low-volume cars is adding capacity, with phase one due in mid-2027.

4. Production — Plasser & Theurer opened a €60m track machine factory in Linz

Plasser & Theurer opened its new assembly and commissioning factory on Pummererstraße in Linz on Friday 16 October, after two years of building, Global Railway Review reported. The family-owned Austrian company called the investment of more than €60 million the largest single commitment in its 73-year history. The 12,000 square metre building brings final assembly and commissioning of track construction and maintenance machines onto one site for the first time, with 15 assembly stations and four commissioning tracks just under 330 metres long in total. It is aimed at the company's E³ hybrid-drive machines. The plant starts in stages, with about 180 staff there by the end of the year and 80 new jobs. Chief executive Johannes Max-Theurer called it an investment "in advance" and said Austria's high energy and non-wage labour costs, skills shortages and growing bureaucracy had to be addressed.

Rail infrastructure buyers waiting on hybrid track machines now have one site handling the last stages of production, run by a builder openly worried about its home costs.

5. Talent — Babcock and BAE will pass apprentice applicants they can't take to defence SMEs

Babcock, BAE Systems and The 5% Club launched the Apprenticeship Talent Bridge on 17 October, Babcock said. It connects strong apprenticeship applicants who miss out on a place at a big defence employer with smaller firms in the same supply chain and nearby. Two pilots are running: Babcock supports the South West, covering Devonport, and BAE supports the North West, covering Barrow-in-Furness and the Preston area. Applicants and employers can sign up from this month and matching starts in April 2027. Taking part is voluntary, and applicants' details are shared only with consent. The Ufi VocTech Trust and the ERA Foundation fund the scheme.

A defence SME in Plymouth, Barrow or Preston that can't attract apprentices now has a route to applicants the primes have already screened.

The judgement: supplier work is following named programmes

Most of the supplier money in these items went to firms that could point to a named car and a start date. Fagor Ederlan and Duoli opened a chassis plant in Borja for the B10, with more Leapmotor models planned from 2027. Spartanburg Steel and six others are expanding plants they already run to supply Scout, whose vehicles are due on sale in 2028. TECNIQ names no single car, but its owner says it has doubled revenue since March 2025, and it plans to develop the second Maldon plot as programmes expand.

The same matching applies to people. Babcock and BAE get more strong apprenticeship applicants than they can take, while smaller firms nearby get too few. The Talent Bridge sets up a route between the two, with matching from April 2027.

The numbers

• More than 40% — local share of Leapmotor B10 components at Zaragoza (Leapmotor International via La Tribuna de Automoción and elEconomista, 16 Oct)
• 40,000 a year — initial chassis capacity at Lieder Automotive, Borja (El Español, 29 Sep)
• $82m / about 200 jobs — seven Upstate SC supplier expansions for Scout (SC Daily Gazette, 14 Oct)
• −3.0% — US motor vehicle and parts output in September; manufacturing +0.3% (Federal Reserve G.17, 16 Oct)
• 190 to more than 330 — TECNIQ staff since March 2025; phase one of Maldon factory due mid-2027 (Tioopo Capital, 15 Oct)
• More than €60m — Plasser & Theurer's Linz factory, 80 new jobs (Global Railway Review, 16 Oct)
• April 2027 — Apprenticeship Talent Bridge matching starts (Babcock, 17 Oct)

Dates

• December 2026 to January 2027 — first Spanish-built B10s reach customers
• End of 2026 — Scout test vehicles off the Blythewood line
• Q1 2027 — Leapmotor B05 joins the Zaragoza line
• April 2027 — Talent Bridge matching begins
• Mid-2027 — phase one of TECNIQ's Maldon factory due for completion
• 24 November 2026 — Federal Reserve annual revision of industrial production
• 2028 — Scout vehicles on sale; Madrid plant due to join Leapmotor International

Sources: Stellantis Media, Leapmotor B10 start of production, 16 October 2026; La Tribuna de Automoción, 16 October 2026; elEconomista, 16 October 2026; ABC, 16 October 2026; El Español, Lieder Automotive Borja, 29 September 2026; SC Daily Gazette, Scout suppliers, 14 October 2026; Federal Reserve Board, G.17 Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization, 16 October 2026; Upstate Business Journal, Scout suppliers, 14 October 2026; Reuters, Leapmotor T03 Tychy, 8 April 2025; Tioopo Capital, "TECNIQ breaks ground on new purpose-built factory and headquarters in Maldon, Essex", 15 October 2026; TECNIQ, "TECNIQ breaks ground on new purpose-built headquarters in Oval Park, Maldon", 15 October 2026; Companies House, TECNIQ Ltd (09377990); Global Railway Review, Plasser & Theurer Linz, 16 October 2026; Babcock International, Apprenticeship Talent Bridge, 17 October 2026.