China’s largest vehicle exporter for 21 years in a row has announced a ninth brand to add to their collection.
They may already count Chery, Exeed, Jetour, Omoda, Jaecoo, iCar, Kaiyi, and arguably Luxeed, among their stable, and have Freelander on the way in 2025, but that hasn’t stopped Chery choosing to add yet another model to their sizeable roster.
This time it’s the turn of Lepas, the first model of which looks set to be called the Lepas 8. On the face of things, the display model of the brand’s likely first model bears more than a passing resemblance to the latest Tiggo 8 with its rounded rectangular grille with large black surrounds and tiger’s eyes daytime running lights, but the Lepas would appear to be a tad shorter and more softly sculpted overall.
At the rear, there are some clear parallels to be drawn between the full-width light bar on the 8 and that on the last-generation Porsche Macan with more than a few observers immediately noting the similarity, but overall it’s quite a neat looking mid-size SUV with attractive proportions.
The display model also boasted two different wheel designs, both 20-inches, but only one sporting bright orange brake calipers.
Other than the model displayed, there’s very little we were actually told about Lepas itself and its positioning, but one member of staff did confirm that ICE, PHEV, and BEV variants would be utilised, meaning they should benefit from the same technology that achieved 2.98-litres per 100km (PHEV), and 9.9kWh per 100km (BEV), on other Chery models.
It’s expected that Lepas will make it abroad too given Chery’s heavy reliance on their export business, though whether the 8 would be badged as a Jaecoo or Omoda as many of the other Chery brand cars are remains to be seen. Chery don’t seem too concerned about badging cars that don’t look alike under the same umbrella (see iCar 03 / Jaecoo J6 and Chery Tiggo 7 / Jaecoo J7), so there’s no reason other than targeting a different demographic that might cause Chery to stick with the name abroad.
We’ll keep you updated on Lepas as and when we get any new information, but expect a 2025 market launch after a possible brand launch at the Guangzhou Auto Show in November.
