Around 10 years ago now, I was driving a second-generation Mini Cooper S. It was an absolute blast when it was running properly, which it almost never was. To this day, when one passes by and I hear the very distinct rattle from that 1.6-liter turbocharged engine, I can basically feel my bank account draining. At least I can sleep well at night knowing that all of those repair costs probably helped send my mechanic's kids to a nicer, better college than I went to.
2% stake in the Chinese upstart, two board seats, technology tie-ups and plans to make and sell some Leapmotor cars outside of China. And those cars are as high-tech as they are affordable. So it's a big deal, in other words. From Bloomberg: For instance, Leapmotor’s flagship C10 electric sport utility vehicle costs 138,800 yuan and comes with a range of 530 kilometers , winning comparisons with Tesla’s Model Y, which starts at 249,900 yuan in China.