Leapmotor announced October deliveries of a record 18,202 vehicles before the Hong Kong stock market opened today, in what appears to be one of its attempts to calm investors down.

Chinese electric vehicle (EV) startup Leapmotor announced record monthly deliveries of 18,202 vehicles before the Hong Kong stock market opened today, in what appears to be one of its attempts to calm investors down.

Leapmotor delivered 18,202 vehicles in October, another record high, it said today.

That's up 159.07 percent year-on-year and up 15.2 percent from 15,800 vehicles in September.

In the January-October period, Leapmotor delivered 107,029 vehicles, up 13.11 percent year-on-year.

At the end of October, Leapmotor had delivered 268,698 vehicles since its inception, data monitored by CnEVPost showed.

Announcing the strong deliveries in the morning appeared to be part of Leapmotor's move to calm investor sentiment, with the company's Hong Kong-traded shares falling nearly 30 percent after the Stellantis deal was announced last week.

In an announcement yesterday evening, Leapmotor said its founding team had voluntarily pledged not to transfer or reduce their holdings in the company in any way over the next 10 years.

The pledge is based on the founding team's confidence in Leapmotor's future development and aims to promote the company's sustainable, stable and healthy development and safeguard the interests of public investors, the announcement said.

At press time, Leapmotor was up more than 4 percent in Hong Kong.

In addition to announcing deliveries, Leapmotor said today that its first global model, the C10, will make its debut in the domestic market at the Guangzhou auto show later this month.

The company unveiled the C10 at IAA Mobility in Munich, Germany on September 4, marking the launch of its global strategy.

The C10 is Leapmotor's mid-size SUV based on the latest Leap 3.0 architecture and will be available in battery electric vehicle (BEV) and extended-range electric vehicle (EREV) versions.

Additionally, Leapmotor today announced that it is offering a limited-time discount of up to RMB 10,000 ($1,370) on its least expensive EV model, the T03, this month.

The T03 is currently on sale in four versions with starting prices of RMB 59,900, RMB 69,900, RMB 80,900, and RMB 89,900 respectively.

After this month's discounts, the starting prices of these four models have been reduced to RMB 49,900, RMB 61,900, RMB 72,900, and RMB 79,900, respectively.

Founded in 2015 and headquartered in Zhejiang province, Leapmotor's models on sale include the mini EV T03, coupe model S01, flagship SUV C11, and flagship sedan C01.

Leapmotor's deliveries took a significant dip in the fourth quarter of last year, falling to 1,139 units by January of this year, the lowest since March 2021.

In an effort to reverse the sales slump, Leapmotor last year unveiled plans to release EREV models to target the larger market for plug-in hybrids. All of Leapmotor's previous models were BEVs.

As of now, its flagship models, the C01 and C11, are being offered in both BEV and EREV versions.

($1 = RMB 7.3181)

Leapmotor tries to calm investors as shares fall nearly 30% after Stellantis deal