Leapmotor B05 small electric hatch launches in Australia with Style and Design LR grades

Australian launch and pricing

Leapmotor has entered the small-car segment in Australia with the B05, an electric hatch that CarExpert's launch review calls the brand's most attractive car yet, with a lower, sleeker European silhouette than the tall, rounded styling of most Chinese electric hatchbacks. The name is pronounced B-zero-5, and the car is sold as the Lafa5 in China, where it sits alongside the B10 small SUV in Leapmotor's B-series range. ¹

Pricing for the 2027 model year comprises two grades. The Style is listed at $35,888 and the Design LR at $39,888 before on-road costs, with Leapmotor Australia offering promotional pricing on the base Style of $35,990 drive-away until December 31, 2026. CarExpert notes the B05 undercuts its closest like-for-like rival, the rear-wheel-drive MG 4 EV Essence 64 at $39,990 drive-away, but is itself undercut by cheaper front-wheel-drive competitors including the BYD Dolphin Essential, GAC Aion UT and MG 4 EV Urban. Lightning Yellow is the standard paint, with other finishes costing an extra $990. ¹

The price position roughly matches what BossHunting previewed from Leapmotor, which reported the brand was targeting a sub-$40,000 starting price of around $35,000 ahead of the car's late-2026 Australian arrival. That preview also flagged a hotter Ultra version as coming; the Australian launch line-up so far comprises only the Style and Design LR grades. ⁴¹

Powertrain, batteries and charging

Every Australian B05 uses a single-motor rear-wheel-drive electric powertrain with 160kW and 240Nm. The Style carries a 56.2kWh LFP battery for a claimed 401km WLTP range, while the Design LR's 67.1kWh LFP pack extends that to 482km WLTP. Claimed 0-100km/h times are 7.5 seconds for the Style and 6.7 for the Design LR, with kerb weights of 1700kg and 1780kg respectively. ¹

Charging figures differ by battery, per CarExpert's specification tables: maximum AC charging is 11kW on both, while peak DC rates are 156kW for the Style and 174kW for the Design LR. Claimed WLTP energy consumption is 15.8kWh/100km and 15.9kWh/100km; on the launch drive's high-speed rural route, CarExpert observed 14.6kWh/100km. The figures are manufacturer claims and test conditions vary, so real-world results will differ. The UK-market 67.1kWh car is rated by The Independent at around 4.5 miles per kWh, with 30 to 80 per cent DC charging claimed in 17 minutes. ¹²

Equipment across the two Australian grades includes 19-inch alloy wheels, a 14.6-inch touchscreen running Leapmotor OS 4.0+ with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, an 8.8-inch digital instrument cluster, over-the-air updates, a 50W air-cooled wireless phone charger and integrated surround-view dashcam recording on the Style; the Design LR adds a fixed panoramic glass roof with sunshade, TechnoLeather synthetic upholstery, heated front seats and steering wheel, power seats, a 12-speaker sound system and rear privacy glass. Only the Design LR offers Light Grey or Shadow Grey interiors; the Style is limited to dark grey. ¹

European tuning and development background

Leapmotor pitches the B05 as more engaging to drive than typical Chinese electric hatches, citing 50:50 weight distribution and European suspension tuning conducted by its partner Stellantis. BossHunting's preview reports the tuning work drew on Alfa Romeo expertise, with vehicles shaped at the Balocco Proving Ground between Turin and Milan; Stellantis owns 51 per cent of Leapmotor International. BossHunting, which drove the Chinese-market version earlier, says the Australian-spec car is far more composed, with little lateral body roll, light but direct steering and a ride that smooths rough surfaces without feeling fully disconnected. ⁴

The dedicated EV platform yields a flat rear floor with no centre driveline hump, aiding a middle rear passenger, per CarExpert. Dimensions of 4430mm length, 1880mm width, 1520mm height and a 2735mm wheelbase are consistent across markets: CarExpert lists 357L of boot space with the rear seats up and 1205L folded on a two-level floor in Australia, while The Independent reports 345L/1400L in the UK on a 60:40 split and German outlet wa.de cites 295L against a VW ID.3's 385L. The figures differ between markets and reviewers, so they should be read as market-specific rather than interchangeable. ¹²³

Practicality compromises are a recurring reviewer theme. There is no storage under the bonnet, so the standard Mode 2 and Mode 3 charging cables live in the boot, and neither CarExpert nor The Independent rates the boot as generous. A lack of rear wiper also drew criticism from both, with CarExpert noting the omission was keenly felt when rain fell during the launch drive. ¹²

How it drives: praise and reservations

CarExpert found the B05 a generally nice car to drive with a balanced, composed chassis, good body control and strong grip from the Hankook tyres, and ride comfort that kept impacts from reverberating through the cabin on rough rural roads. But it faults the steering, which communicates little of what is happening beneath the car even in its best-weighted Sport mode, leaving the B05 feeling more grand tourer than hot hatch — a shortcoming CarExpert says is harder to forgive given the car is marketed as fun to drive. ¹

The Independent's reviewer, driving the car in Germany as part of German Car of the Year judging and rating it 7/10, similarly found the steering very light and rubbery with eager self-centring, despite the promising rear-drive layout, 50:50 weight distribution and multi-link rear suspension. wa.de's German test was more positive on the driving experience, crediting the rear-drive 218PS (160kW) output and balanced chassis, though it observed understeer in sharply driven corners and little steering feedback in Normal mode. ²³

Safety rating and software complaints

The B05 holds a five-star ANCAP rating based on testing conducted in 2026 against the latest protocols, scoring 66 per cent for Safe Driving, 77 per cent for Crash Avoidance, 92 per cent for Crash Protection and 89 per cent for Post Crash, per CarExpert. Standard safety equipment includes adaptive cruise control, autonomous emergency braking, blind-spot monitoring, driver attention monitoring, front and rear cross-traffic assist, lane-keep and emergency lane-keep assist, a surround-view camera with transparent chassis view, and front, front-side, curtain and far-side airbags. Leapmotor says the B05 has more ADAS than any of its models to date, with 21 systems. ¹

The driver-assist software is the car's most-criticised area. CarExpert found the lane-keep assist too sensitive, chiming even when within lane markings, and difficult to disable because it is linked to the driver attention monitor, which continues to show diversion warnings even when switched off. A false seatbelt-warning chime also appeared on multiple occasions; Leapmotor says this issue is being fixed, though an announced fix is not yet proof it has been resolved. BossHunting likewise described the alarm cacophony as will-sapping, while crediting Leapmotor's driver-profile workaround that stores active-safety preferences so they can be applied with two presses of a steering-wheel roller rather than toggled individually each trip. ¹⁴

German testing adds further software caveats. wa.de reports the operating system crashed several times during its test and that assistant systems re-enabled themselves after being switched off, with warning tones activating too early; it also notes assistant deactivation via driver profiles only works when parked with the gear selector in P. A German-market issue is shared in kind with CarExpert's Australian experience: the system repeatedly warned about an unfastened driver's seatbelt that was already buckled. These are reviewer observations on test cars, and both outlets note fixes may arrive via over-the-air updates. ³¹

Other shared criticisms include the minimal physical controls, with mirrors, drive modes and climate all handled through the 14.6-inch touchscreen, and Leapmotor's NFC card key, which requires tapping the card against the driver's-side mirror and placing it on the centre console to start — a process both CarExpert and The Independent found tedious, though it can be bypassed via phone-as-key and a PIN. ¹²⁴

Ownership and the overseas picture

In Australia, Leapmotor offers six years or 150,000km of vehicle warranty and eight years or 160,000km of battery coverage, plus eight years of capped-price servicing with 12-month or 20,000km intervals and services between $215 and $470, averaging $372.50 per service; every second service is costlier because battery fluids are changed. Roadside assistance for eight years is service-activated. ¹

Overseas specifications differ and should not be read across to Australia. The UK car is sold in a single trim at £28,995 for retail customers after a £1,500 Leap-Grant (£30,495 full on-the-road price), with a four-year/60,000-mile vehicle warranty, eight-year/100,000-mile battery warranty and a four-year zero per cent APR PCP offer, per The Independent. In Germany, wa.de reports pricing from €27,990 to €32,400 with equipment including a 360-degree camera and heat pump, and DC charging quoted at 140 to 168kW — a different peak figure from the 156/174kW rates quoted for Australian cars. Neither overseas price relates to the Australian list or drive-away figures quoted above. ²³¹

Whether the B05 sells well locally remains to be seen. CarExpert observes that Leapmotor's Australian sales volumes remain significantly lower than those of brands such as Geely, despite each new model being more compelling than the last, and positions the B05 as an intriguing small-EV alternative to the B10 SUV for buyers who can forgo the higher seating position — one facing a small-electric-hatch segment it describes as increasingly competitive. ¹