(Yicai) Dec. 30 -- Chinese electric vehicle startup Leapmotor Technology said it has secured a CNY3.7 billion (USD529 million) investment from state-owned carmaker FAW Group and disclosed plans to increase its annual sales by more than six times within the next decade.

FAW Equity Investment Tianjin will take a 5 percent stake in the EV maker by buying about 74.8 million new shares priced at HKD55.29 (USD7.08) each, Leapmotor, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this month, said in a stock exchange filing yesterday.

Leapmotor’s stock [HKG: 9863] closed at HKD50.10 in Hong Kong today, after falling 0.6 percent.

The Hangzhou-based company is one of China’s fastest-growing new energy vehicle producers. Deliveries surged 114 percent to 536,100 autos in the 11 months ended Nov. 30 from a year ago, with the full-year figure expected to exceed 600,000. Last year, sales doubled to 293,700.

Laying out plans to reach annual sales of 4 million vehicles within the coming decade, founder and Chief Executive Zhu Jiangming told reporters yesterday that Leapmotor aims to become a world-class EV maker.

FAW’s investment will dilute the ownership of Leapmotor’s founder group, led by Zhu, to 22.6 percent from 23.8 percent, while European automaker Stellantis, its second-largest shareholder, will see its stake dip to 19 percent from 20 percent.

The deals with FAW and Stellantis include explicit provisions governing investor shareholding levels to ensure the controlling position of Leapmotor’s founding team, Vice President Li Tengfei said at the same media briefing.

Zhu, who also chairs Leapmotor, noted the strategic value of having both Stellantis and FAW as shareholders, saying their involvement enhances the EV maker’s stability and resilience in a competitive market. He pointed out that strategic, product, and parts supply collaborations with these partners will bolster the firm.

FAW’s participation as a shareholder will boost Leapmotor’s brand recognition and reinforce consumer confidence in its products, according to Li. FAW has also expressed interest in procuring core components from Leapmotor, while its core engine products will also better support the startup's development, he added.

Leapmotor and FAW signed a non-binding agreement in March to explore capital cooperation, achieve synergy across the entire supply chain, jointly develop new energy passenger vehicles, and ally on components supply.

Compared with other Chinese NEV startups, Leapmotor has demonstrated strong in-house development capabilities for key components, with a high share of self-developed parts and systems in its vehicles, enabling it to operate not only as a full vehicle producer but also as a Tier-1 parts supplier.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Martin Kadiev