Another Chinese brand is confirmed for South Africa, with Chery Group’s Lepas earmarked for launch in 2026.
Lepas forms part of the Chery Group and was globally announced back in April 2025. It is positioned as a younger, style-conscious brand, and it will be interesting to see where it sits in the current hierarchy. As a reminder, Chery Group is massive with Chery itself, Omoda, Jaecoo, Exceed, Luxeed, iCaur and Jetour. Not all of these brands have presence in South Africa… yet.
The Lepas name comes from the words Leap and Passion, and while its product portfolio is still very new, it appears the Lepas L8 will be the first model to launch. Final specifications will only be confirmed when the car is launched, but we understand the Lepas 8 is based on the Chery Tiggo 8 Pro.
Lepas claims its L8 has a “spacious and sumptuously trimmed interior, features the latest driver-assist technologies and redefines what’s expected from a premium SUV.” That’s quite a statement, but we know from past experience that the Chinese brands learn and adapt very quickly. The cars from just 5 years ago feel antiquated in comparison to the fresh metal landing on our shores.
We’ll update this article with additional info as and when it comes to light. Do you think we have too many brands selling fundamentally the same thing? Or is this a case similar to that of the Volkswagen Group where Volkswagen, Seat, Skoda, Audi all share a platform and positioned for different target markets? Only time and sales figures will give us this answer.
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