Stellantis starts building Leapmotor's B10 in Zaragoza, with more than 40% of its components made locally

Stellantis and its Chinese partner Leapmotor started series production of the Leapmotor B10 at Stellantis's Figueruelas plant near Zaragoza on Friday 16 October. It is the first Leapmotor model built in Spain. Stellantis assembled the smaller T03 from Chinese kits at Tychy in Poland until March 2025, when it stopped. The B10 is a mid-size SUV, sold as a full electric car and as a range-extender version. It shares the plant with the Opel Corsa, Peugeot 208 and Lancia Ypsilon, but runs on its own line.

The car is built by Leapmotor International, the joint venture that Stellantis controls with 51% and Leapmotor holds 49%. It makes and sells Leapmotor cars outside Greater China. Óscar Fernández Puente, who runs Stellantis production for small and medium cars, said the B10 had taken 18 months to develop, La Tribuna de Automoción reported. elEconomista said 18 months had passed since the two companies' agreement.

The number that matters for suppliers is the local share. Danilo Annese, chief executive of Leapmotor International, told reporters at the plant that more than 40% of the B10's components are made locally, and that the share could rise, La Tribuna de Automoción and elEconomista reported on 16 October. He said the car meets the EU's current requirements and that both companies are ready for tougher ones, a reference to the 70% European-content threshold in the European Commission's proposed Industrial Accelerator Act. That threshold would apply to cars bought by public bodies or with public subsidies, and France and Germany backed a version of it on 16 October.

Who supplies the line

Two new Aragon plants sit behind the start of production.

Chassis modules come from Lieder Automotive in Borja, about 30 km from Figueruelas. Lieder is a joint venture between the Spanish casting and chassis group Fagor Ederlan and China's Duoli Technology. It started up on 29 September with 14 production lines and 138 robots, an initial capacity of 40,000 chassis a year and about 170 jobs, El Español reported that day. The plant was set up with €7.5m of European funding and could raise output as more Leapmotor models arrive from 2027.

Battery modules come from Leapmotor International's own workshop in Mallén, which opened in June. Stellantis says the site covers about 34,000 square metres, of which 19,000 are built. It assembles modules for the two LFP (lithium iron phosphate) battery options on the B10 and was designed so it could switch to other cell chemistries later. elEconomista put the investment at €25m.

Stellantis said on Friday it chose Zaragoza for the plant's quality, spare capacity and know-how. Fernández Puente told the press conference that the region's logistics for bringing in parts and shipping out cars, and a supplier base able to move quickly at launch, were the reasons.

How big it is for now

The line is running one shift of about 400 people, Fernández Puente said. Counting engineering, office staff and the Mallén workshop, the project involves about 600 people, according to both Spanish reports. elEconomista put new jobs at 450.

Neither company has given a production target for the B10. Fernández said volume was not the aim at this stage. The goal was to make sure launches happen on time and that the plant can flex between models, he said. In September 2025, before the companies had confirmed the project, El Periódico de Aragón reported plans for about 50,000 to 70,000 B10s over two and a half years. Leapmotor's founder, Zhu Jiangming, said only that he expected output to build up over time, elEconomista reported.

The first Spanish-built B10s are due to reach European customers in December or January, Annese said. elEconomista reported a price of about €24,000 in Spain once government incentives are counted. Zhu said Leapmotor would make about a million cars worldwide this year. elEconomista reported 8,000 orders from customers so far, without saying which markets they came from.

What comes next

The B05, a compact electric car, will join the Zaragoza line in the first quarter of 2027, earlier than the first half of the year that had been indicated before, La Tribuna reported. A second shift could follow when it arrives. Stellantis's Madrid plant at Villaverde, which now builds the Citroën C4 and C4 X, is due to become a Leapmotor International plant in 2028, ABC reported on 16 October, and the two companies are also working on an SUV for 2028–29.

For Stellantis, the point is the factory as much as the car. Silvia Vernetti, who handles the joint venture and strategic plan for Stellantis, said at the event that sharing its European plants with partners is one part of the group's plan to use more of its capacity, and that Leapmotor is the most important of those partners.

Leapmotor is localising through a partner's existing plant and supplier base, with a Sino-Spanish joint venture making the chassis and its own workshop assembling battery modules nearby. The 40%-plus figure Annese gave counts components. The 70% test in the Commission's proposal is measured on the value of components, not counting the battery, and would apply only to cars bought by public bodies or with public subsidies.

Sources: Stellantis Media, "Stellantis and Leapmotor officially start B10 production in Zaragoza", 16 October 2026; La Tribuna de Automoción, 16 October 2026; elEconomista, 16 October 2026; ABC, 16 October 2026; Stellantis Media, "Leapmotor International announces opening of a battery workshop in Mallén, Spain", 23 June 2026; El Español, Lieder Automotive Borja, 29 September 2026; El Periódico de Aragón, 28 September 2025; Reuters, 8 April 2025; The Industrial Brief, France and Germany Now, 17 October 2026.