Chery Launches Global Leap with Lepas: Sleek New Crossovers Target Asia and Europe

Chery unveiled its new subsidiary brand Lepas just a week ago, and these cars did not come to the Shanghai Auto Show that was taking place at the time. But now a separate presentation has taken place in Chery’s home city of Wuhu. Here are the main facts: the Lepas brand is conceived as an international one, and in the company’s internal hierarchy it will be located above the Chery, Jaecoo and Omoda brands, but below Exeed.

Three crossovers under the Lepas brand have already been prepared. All of them are based on the long-known T1X platform, but at the same time have their own bodies and design in the new Leopard Aesthetic concept. Distinctive features of this style are running lights in the form of cat pupils (these first appeared on the 2024 Chery Tiggo 8 Plus model) and soft body contours without ribs and stampings, somewhat similar to Jaguar crossovers.

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The firstborn of the new brand will be the largest crossover Lepas L8. Structurally, it repeats the familiar Tiggo 8, but the wheelbase is stretched from 2710 to 2800 mm, and the overall length, on the contrary, is reduced from 4720 to 4688 mm. The width (1860 mm) and height (1695 mm) are almost the same as the donor. Lepas L8 has only two rows of seats and its own interior with a vertical media system screen.

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Two more crossovers debuted in pre-production status, so even their overall dimensions have not yet been published. Lepas L6 is a classmate of the Chery Tiggo 7 model, and Lepas L4 is an analogue of the Chery Tiggo 4 SUV. Both cars have a new corporate style appearance, and their own interior is promised. Alas, there are no technical details about the crossovers yet, but most likely, the power units will be the same as those of related Chery (including hybrid systems).

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In the future, the range is promised to be expanded with even more compact crossovers (L3, L2 and even L1), there will also be some sedans. According to the plan, three years after the launch, the Lepas brand should reach a sales volume of 500 thousand cars annually. Where will they be sold? So far, it has been confirmed that one of the starting markets will be Indonesia this summer.