File photo shows a Leapmotor C16 SUV. Credit: CnEVPost
- The latest share purchase comes as Leapmotor’s stock price has tumbled 29% since mid-April.
- Leapmotor chairman Zhu Jiangming and his concerted party spent HK$490 million ($62.5 million) to purchase 11.62 million H shares of the company.
Leapmotor (HKEX: 9863) founder and chairman Zhu Jiangming has once again increased his stake in the Stellantis-backed Chinese EV maker, demonstrating management’s strong confidence in the company’s future development prospects.
Zhu and his concerted party Fu Liquan recently purchased a total of 11,621,900 H shares of the company in the open market at an average price of about HK$41.99 per share, according to a Hong Kong stock exchange filing on Thursday.
The total amount of this latest share purchase reached about HK$490 million ($62.5 million).
Immediately following this stake increase, the single largest shareholder group including Zhu now holds a combined 24.71% stake in the automaker.
This equity includes about 222.8 million H shares and about 128.5 million domestic shares of Leapmotor.
The company’s Hong Kong-traded shares have seen a significant decline over the past two months, with today’s closing price of HK$40.98 per share down 29% from a recent high of HK$57.80 on April 17.
This is the second stake increase by Leapmotor’s management this year, and the sixth such action taken over the past two years.
Prior to this, the shareholder group had just injected about HK$230 million in April to absorb more of the company’s public shares.
Since 2024, the cumulative total amount of stock purchases by Leapmotor’s leadership has reached about HK$1.7 billion.
This series of stock purchases occurs as the EV maker strives to maintain its robust sales growth momentum.
Leapmotor delivered 81,569 new vehicles in May, hitting a record high for the second consecutive month. This surged 80.99% from a year earlier and represented a 14.26% month-on-month growth from April.
In the first five months of this year, Leapmotor delivered a cumulative 263,111 vehicles, up 51.51% year-on-year.
Leapmotor Monthly Deliveries 2024-2026
Month
2024
2025
2026
January
12,277
25,170
32,059
February
6,566
25,287
28,067
March
14,567
37,095
50,029
April
15,005
41,039
71,387
May
18,165
45,067
81,569
June
20,116
48,006
July
22,093
50,129
August
30,305
57,066
September
33,767
66,657
October
38,177
70,289
November
40,169
70,327
December
42,517
60,423
Leapmotor monthly deliveries
2024
2025
2026
Despite the robust deliveries, the company’s profitability faced some pressure earlier this year due to changes in its product mix.
Leapmotor’s net loss widened to 390 million yuan ($57.6 million) in the first quarter, while its gross margin dropped to 9.4% from 14.9% in the same period last year.
However, thanks to the strong vehicle deliveries, the company’s first-quarter revenue reached 10.82 billion yuan, up 8.0% year-on-year.
Overseas markets are rapidly becoming a key growth engine for the startup. Its overseas sales from January to April stood at 55,126 units, a year-on-year surge of 165.39%, according to data compiled by CnEVPost.
Leapmotor Monthly Exports 2024-2026
Month
2024
2025
2026
January
2,166
14,523
February
1,616
9,769
March
3,764
16,609
April
6,086
14,225
May
3,658
June
3,085
July
4,605
August
5,904
September
1,385
6,888
October
2,091
6,565
November
1,319
9,348
December
2,345
13,367
Leapmotor monthly exports
2024
2025
2026
Leapmotor plans to introduce its electric hatchback Lafa 5 to 28 overseas markets in June, further expanding its international presence.
The Chinese EV maker has set an ambitious sales target, planning to achieve the milestone of delivering 1 million vehicles for the full year of 2026.
As part of its efforts to support this plan, Leapmotor is planning to launch a completely new, independent second brand.
The new brand is expected to focus on the higher-end segment with prices above 300,000 yuan, and its products are anticipated to debut as early as the end of this year.
This is expected to help Leapmotor move from its current focus on affordable models into a market with higher profit margins.
Leapmotor is set to update the C10, C11, and C16, three SUVs that contributed 43% of its deliveries from January to April this year.
($1 = 6.7761 yuan, $1 = HK$ 7.8351)
