Chinese EV brand Leapmotor has debuted in the UK this week, with the launch of the T03. The new car entered production in Europe back in June and will go on sale in October. The first customer deliveries are set to start in December.

The T03 is priced from £15,995 in the UK, which makes it the second cheapest electric car on the market, just £1,000 more than the Dacia Spring. That extra price looks to be justified, as the T03 has more equipment as standard and a larger battery. The base model Spring doesn't have an infotainment screen, whereas the T03 does. However, it does seem to be used for the climate control as well., which doesn't sound great on paper - we'll have wait to see it in person before complete judging it, though.

The battery is also larger on the T03 than the Spring. With the Spring you get a 26.8kWh pack, whereas in the T03 you get a 37.3kWh pack. In terms of the WLTP range, this means 26 miles extra, at 165 miles. The motor used is much more powerful too, while the Spring has quite a dinky 44bhp motor, the T03 has a 94bhp unit instead. This means 0-60mph in 12.7 seconds, rather than 19.7 seconds.

DC charging on these types of cars is never going to be record breaking, with the T03 you get 48kW DC speeds and a max of 6.6kW on AC.

The T03 also supports over the air updates, meaning any software bugs can be fixed after purchase, or new features can be added.

Leapmotor does have a factory in Europe, in fact the company is using the old Fiat 500 plant in Poland, but for the UK market all the cars will be made in China and imported.