Chery’s Lepas plans product onslaught including Toyota Corolla, Kia EV9 rivals

Chery will launch its Lepas brand in October with a mid-size crossover SUV, and plans to rapidly expand its model lineup over the next two years.

The newcomer brand – which isn’t sold in China and is instead exclusive to export markets – previewed the new L6 EV to media in Sydney, alongside pre-production examples of the L6 and L8 in plug-in hybrid (PHEV) guise, and the L4 EV small SUV.

The brand says these are based on a new platform for the brand called LEX, though it's unclear how much this shares with existing Chery Group architectures.

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Lepas says it will be "new energy-only" in Australia, though in addition to PHEVs and electric vehicles (EVs) it has at least one hybrid in its product pipeline. If you want pure petrol power, however, you’ll need to stick with Chery or Omoda Jaecoo.

After the mid-size L6 EV crossover SUV touches down in October, it’ll be followed shortly thereafter by the smaller L4 EV in December.

Both vehicles share a 65kWh lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery and a 160kW/275Nm front-mounted electric motor.

They also share the same 2700mm wheelbase, however, the L4 EV ekes out slightly more range at 450km on the WLTP cycle, compared to 440km for the L6 EV. The L4 EV is 4420mm long and 1817mm wide, while the L6 EV is 4570mm long and 1852mm wide – matching them up neatly with the Chery E5 and Geely EX5 , respectively.

Plug-in hybrid (PHEV) versions of the L6 and L4 will follow in March and June 2027, respectively.

The Lepas L8 will follow in September 2027, initially as a PHEV and with an as-yet unrevealed electric version following in 2028.

In PHEV guise, this larger SUV uses a turbocharged 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine mated with an 18.4kWh LFP battery, for 90km of electric range on the WLTP cycle and total system outputs of 205kW and 365Nm.

Lepas is calling the L8 a mid-size SUV, in contrast with sister brand Chery which calls its Tiggo 8 a large SUV. The two vehicles are similar in dimensions, with the Lepas L8 even sold in China as the Chery Tiggo 8 .

Although the L8 is already available to order in markets such as the UK, where it has debuted the Lepas brand, it will be launched here after the smaller L4 and L6. Lepas has said the vehicles it showcased in Sydney were pre-production and that there may be further specification changes prior to launch.

The Lepas lineup will be bookended by two new models that the brand has yet to reveal.