The Leapmotor B05 arrives in Europe at about €32,000, plus €650 for paint, which keeps the larger-battery version under €33,000. In a new walkthrough and drive, Autogefühl framed it as a direct shot at the Volkswagen Golf, the electric ID.3 and the Opel Astra, the cars that have anchored the European compact class for decades. Because the B05 is all-electric, it lines up most closely with the ID.3 and the coming ID. Polo rather than the petrol Golf. The awkward part for the incumbents is where you buy it. The B05 sits inside the Stellantis group, which also owns Opel, so it shares showroom floor space with the Astra and a shopper can cross-compare a Chinese electric hatch and a German staple in a single visit. At 4.43 meters long on standard 19-inch wheels, the car looks ordinary. The price, the cabin and the badge are what make it worth a closer look.
What is genuinely new here is not the hardware but the distribution. Leapmotor reaches European buyers through its Stellantis partnership, which means the B05 inherits an established dealer and service network rather than the thin support footprint that has slowed other Chinese brands. For a buyer nervous about warranty and parts, that is a real consideration the spec sheet does not show. It also matters against a tightening backdrop: the European Union has imposed tariffs on EVs built in China, so a price this low, distributed this conventionally, is a pointed move. Compared with the cars it targets, the B05 undercuts a typically equipped Golf or ID.3 while bringing a softer, better-finished interior than buyers expect at the money. Autogefühl even pegs its real price rival as the Dacia Duster, which tells you how aggressively Leapmotor has set the number. The catch the video keeps returning to is the driving position, which suits average heights far better than tall drivers sitting high on the EV floor.
Autogefühl reports two trims, tied in Germany to battery size: a 56 kWh entry pack and a 67 kWh version, both LFP, where gross and net capacity sit close together. Charging is 11 kW AC and almost 170 kW DC, with a 10 to 80 percent fill quoted at around 18 minutes. The bigger battery does 0 to 100 km/h in 6.7 seconds and even offers a launch control, which the host found charming on a car like this. Measured at a steady 100 km/h, it used about 17 kWh per 100 km, pointing to a real-world range near 400 km, or 250 miles. The interior is the surprise, with soft-touch materials and plush seats well above the class norm, plus a panoramic roof with a closing shade, a 360-degree camera and selectable regen down to one-pedal driving. Negatives pile up modestly: notable road noise on coarse tarmac, a lane-keeping assist that switches itself back on, frameless doors that do not thud shut, no frunk, and Apple CarPlay that would not connect on the test car's software. The suspension was retuned for European roads, and an 800-volt upgrade is planned but not confirmed for the region.
Bottom line: The B05 is the clearest sign yet that the budget objection to European EVs is gone. For a buyer who fits the seats and lives near a Stellantis dealer, this is a lot of car for the money, with a cabin that embarrasses some pricier rivals and a charging curve that holds up in daily use. It will not out-handle a Golf and the noise insulation gives away the price, but those are fair trades at this number. If you are tall, sit in one before you sign, because the high floor is the one thing software cannot fix. Everyone else should treat it as the new baseline the Golf and Astra now have to beat.