10/05/2026

Contributing Editor Keshy Dhillon / keshy@piston.my Editorial

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SUNDAY | MAY 10, 2026

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The digital cluster is sharp and easy to read but a little obstructed by the steering wheel.

Almost no physical controls is taking minimalism a little too literally and is one of the few setbacks for the B10.

Why such a large screen? Perhaps because they had to fit almost every single vehicular function in it.

Leapmotor B10 might not excite all your tastebuds but deserves a seat at the EV table Outlier or trailblazer?

to get moving. Remove the key long enough without moving, to place your phone there, will then require placing the card once more to shift the transmission. The rest of the cabin is nice. Again, its outside dimensions can be misleading, the interior is roomy and comfortable. The upholstery is a synthetic leather con structed from a silicone material called Oeko-Tex Standard 100, a baby-friendly material made from bamboo charcoal fab ric with low-odour and water-based adhe sives. Very family-friendly. Speaking of physical buttons, there are pretty much none. Almost all functions are crammed into the 14.6-inch central info tainment touchscreen. This includes air conditioning, side-view mirror adjustment, drive modes audio controls and even the rear hatch. Leapmotor has taken some effort in inte grating some design and textures into the minimalist dashboard though. This lends it a semblance of character against C10’s dash that borders sensory deprivation.

attention. The B10 might look under-tyred but those are actually 18-inch rollers, wrapped in a staggered 225/50R18 at the front and 255/50R18 out back. This is because the B10 is rear-wheel driven, which we’ll get to later. Are there any drawbacks? We hate to nit pick but the pop-out door handles take this one. Adding insult to injury, they are not powered. This means so you have to fish them out and pull, not a pleasant task with grocery bags in both hands. IS THE INSIDE NICE? We will get to the cabin in a bit because literally getting in is a mildly frustrating endeavour that should include some jail time. Like its larger sibling, the B10 has no physical key fob. You unlock the car via an NFC card tapped on the driver’s side-view mirror. The other option is through a dedicated smart phone app. Honestly, with the return of physical buttons, a regular key fob should be next on the list. Once you are in, the NFC card must be placed on the floating centre console’s tray

battery (140kW) and the one tested here, the flagship B10 Design and its 67.1kWh pack (160kW). Prices are RM107,800 and RM118,800 respectively. DOES IT LOOK GOOD? It looks like a minituarised version of its larger C10 sibling, which is to say rather generic and sort of blends into the sea of other BEVs in the wild. Imagine asking ChatGPT to create an image of a modern SUV and you might just end up with the B10. There are com parisons to a Porsche Cayenne’s design but again, every other SUV on the market is starting to mimic it. The front has slim LED DRLs with a checkered motif that is mirrored at the rear. However, the LED projector headlights are actually located below, almost blending in with the intake below the DRLs. At the rear, like every other SUV, there is a lightbar. Credit is due though for keeping the overall design clean and tidy as other carmakers have a tendency to get carried away, ending up with an overly busy exte rior that is an admission of screaming for

BY DINESH APPAVU

IT is a little unfortunate that Leapmotor does not get a fair share of the limelight here, seemingly slotting into an outlier posi tion in a market, and perhaps unfortunately segment, saturated with options. A little time with the Leapmotor B10 only served to further substantiate that belief as it is a wonderful car that just some how falls off the radar. To be fair, tossing its hat into a ring with the likes of the BYD Atto 3 and the Proton eMas 7 EV was not going to make things any easier. Going up against a trailblazer like the BYD and the current best-selling EV in the country like the Proton is a big ask. Despite its compact appearances, the B10 straddles the line between compact and C-segment. There are two variants in Malaysia, set apart primarily by battery capacity and charging rates but also equip ment as well. There is a base B10 Life with a 56.2kWh SO WHAT IS THE LEAPMOTOR B10?