The Leapmotor D99 is the brand’s first-ever MPV and essentially the most ambitious product the Stellantis-backed Chinese brand has ever built. Revealed in skeleton form at the corporate’s Tenth-anniversary event in Hangzhou last December and teased steadily ever since, the D99 has finally gone on sale in China on June 25, with deliveries set to start on July 20.
The brand made its name selling value-for-money EVs similar to the C10 and B10 we already get here in Malaysia, however the D99 is a play for the premium people-mover segment, going head-to-head with the Denza D9, GAC M8, Zeekr 009, Xpeng X9 and Li Auto Mega. Leapmotor’s pitch, as ever, is aggressive: it’s calling the D99 a “million-yuan experience at a 300,000-yuan price.”
The D99 is obtainable in six variants priced from 249,800 yuan to 319,800 yuan in China, roughly comparable to RM148,000-RM189,000. The range opens with the extended-range (EREV) version at 249,800 yuan, with the pure-electric (BEV) version priced higher.
The D99 measures 5,280 mm long, 1,995 mm wide and 1,880 mm tall, with a 3,110 mm wheelbase, which is longer than a Toyota Alphard. Its seating layout is 7 seats arranged in three rows in a 2+2+3 config.
The EREV version uses a 800V platform and pairs a 1.5-litre turbocharged range extender with dual motors and an 80.3 kWh battery. It gives the D99 EREV p to 352 km of pure-electric range on the WLTC cycle. The BEV version uses a 1000V platform and uses CATL’s 115 kWh battery, which is claimed to be a clever NCM-LFP chemistry that blends ternary lithium and lithium iron phosphate throughout the same cell to lift energy density while keeping costs in check. CLTC range is rated at as much as 700 km.
The chassis rides on a dual-chamber closed air suspension paired with CDC repeatedly variable damping standard across the range, plus a road-surface lively preview function that reads the road ahead.
ADAS is powered by two Qualcomm Snapdragon 8797 chips delivering a combined 1,280 TOPS of computing power. ADAS is powered by a VLA (Vision-Language-Motion) large model fed by a roof-mounted LiDAR, with voice-operated functions including lane changes and overtaking.
Energetic safety includes AEB operational from 4–150 km/h and an AES emergency evasive steering function working between 80–130 km/h.
The inside of the Leapmotor D99 is built around a five-screen interface: a ten.25-inch digital instrument cluster, a 17.3-inch central touchscreen, a 50-inch AR-HUD, a 6-inch second-row control screen and a 21.4-inch 3K rear entertainment screen (electrically adjustable from 90° to 110°). Audio comes from a 23-speaker Dolby Atmos system rated at 2,304W, including headrest speakers for the motive force. There’s a six-zone voice assistant (“AI family butler”) running on an on-device large model.
Seating is the actual party trick. The second-row zero-gravity aviation seats rotate as much as 180° for face-to-face conferencing with the third row, with a 90° scenic-view mode, plus heating, ventilation, massage and folding tables. The seats also support a forty five° rotating “welcome” mode with lighting on entry. The third row folds completely flat to form a bed, and with the second and third rows combined, the D99 creates a near-2.5-metre flat sleeping space.
Other niceties include an electrical fridge, semi-aniline top-grain leather, 3.9 m of ambient lighting, and apparently even an oxygen concentrator, perhaps in case Covid comes back to haunt us? Boot space is 706 litres standard, expanding to 2,890 litres with the third row stowed.
As things stand, there is no such thing as a right-hand-drive version of the Leapmotor D99 as of now. So long as there may be now RHD model and signs of exports outside of China, no timeline for a Malaysian launch yet.
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This Article First Appeared At paultan.org
