(Yicai) March 27 -- Zhu Jiangming, founder and chairman of Leapmotor Technology, said the Chinese new energy vehicle maker is confident it can sell 150,000 vehicles overseas this year, calling the goal “very achievable.”

Speaking at a media briefing held yesterday, Zhu said instability in the Middle East has created headwinds in some overseas markets, but higher oil prices triggered by the crisis have also boosted demand for electric vehicles. The Hangzhou-based high-tech EV brand had previously set a target of selling one million vehicles in 2026, including 100,000 to 150,000 units overseas, while aiming for a net profit of CNY5 billion (USD720 million).

Leapmotor sold 596,600 cars last year, including 67,000 units in overseas markets. The company also reported net profit of CNY540 million (USD78.1 million), becoming the second NEV startup in China to post an annual profit after Li Auto. Zhu said higher sales will create scale effects that help spread research and development, marketing, and administrative costs, supporting Leapmotor’s profit target for this year.

Leapmotor also launched the new sport-utility vehicle model A10 yesterday, saying it brought parking-to-parking navigation-assisted driving technology to the global entry-level passenger vehicle market priced below CNY100,000 (USD14,466) for the first time.

Zhu said competition in China’s NEV sector will increasingly center on intelligence, especially advanced driver assistance systems, and that making such features available in lower-priced models will help accelerate adoption.

Zhu said Leapmotor began investing heavily in intelligent-driving technology in 2024. The company’s intelligent-driving team now has more than 700 employees and nearly 600 training servers, giving the firm fully in-house capabilities in the field, he added.

He also warned that China still has too many NEV brands and said Leapmotor must maintain a sense of urgency and keep improving every year, or it could become one of the companies pushed out of the market.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Emmi Laine