Leapmotor remains open to launching a ute or commercial vehicle for markets such as Australia, but the Chinese automaker has admitted it currently lacks the ladder-frame platform required for a conventional dual-cab pickup.
The Asia-Pacific region has become a more important focus for the company over the last six to eight months as it looks for new opportunities outside China and Europe,’ Leapmotor International’s Global Head of Brand Strategy, Product and Marketing, Francesco Giacalone said in an interview with Australian media in China.
Asked whether there was room in Leapmotor’s global lineup for a commercial car, Giancalone said ‘There was “room for surprises” and added that “anything is on the table”.
But asked if Leapmotor was on a ladder-frame platform, Mr Giacalone said ‘This is the moment where there’s no platform.
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That means any future Leapmotor ute remains some way off, particularly if the brand wants to develop a proper rival for Australia’s top-selling dual-cabs such as the Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux.
Leapmotor has previously confirmed it is studying the feasibility of a ute for Australia, but that the project would need combined global demand from markets such as Australia, Mexico, Argentina and Brazil to justify production volumes.
Earlier Mr Giacalone has said Leapmotor’s engineering team was looking at several body styles following its new LEAP 3 ‘. platform, including dual-cab ute and 5 platform.
He said at the time that Australia alone would probably not justify the volume needed for a new model, but “combining demand from other ute-friendly markets could help create the critical mass required to make business case work.”
He has made his recent comments that Leapmotor is still open to the idea, but also imposed a more precise limit on how close it can be to release ‘an old ute’ realistically.
Most of Australia’s best-selling dual cab models are based on ladder-frame architecture, such as the Ranger, HiLux, Isuzu D-Max and Mitsubishi Triton. Today, Leapmotor’s current export market focus is based on passenger cars such as the C10 mid-size SUV, B10 small SUV and B05 hatch.
Yet, the ute market is still one of the biggest opportunities for s – especially in Australia where tray-backed cars have been the most popular models overall over 10 years.
Top selling model The Ranger was the best-selling model here in 2025 with 56,555 deliveries and the HiLux came third overall with 51,297. In 2004, the Isuzu D-Max was fourth in terms of deliveries, with 26,839 deliveries and the Mitsubishi Triton also placed inside the top 20.
Utes have dominated in 2026, with the Ranger and HiLux topping the Australian sales charts in March of both 2004 and 2005. Last month the locally developed Ford found 4452 new homes, ahead of the HiLux on 4167 (the D-Max and Triton) inside top 12 as well as a look at interiors.
Chinese brands are also moving quickly into the segment that Leapmotor is still studying.
In Australia there is already no shortage of Chinese utes the BYD Shark 6, GWM Cannon and DBM, LDV T60 (LDV) or Terron 9 (Fern Tunland V7 and V9), MG U9 and JAC T9 from Chery, Jetour and GAC.
That’s a challenge and an opportunity for Leapmotor, as well as an option. But the point is clear Australia likes uted, Chinese brands are already on the ground and electrified dual-cabs were no longer an theoretical theory.
This is a challenge that’s equally clear, as Leapmotor does not currently have the core architecture required for pursuing – and any future pickup would need to be enough demand outside Australia to justify development.
It also isn’t the first time Leapmotor has played down the immediacy of a ute.
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In April 2025, Leapmotor International CEO Tianshu Xin told Australian media the brand did not have a ute in its current product plan, saying pickups are not a major focus in China because the segment is small and they face city-centre restrictions.
However, he said that did not rule out Leapmotor entering the pickup or commercial vehicle space in the future.
While the latest comments from Mr Giacalone imply that position has not changed dramatically, Leakmotor is increasingly emphasising the Asia Pacific as it looks beyond its current passenger car lineup.
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