By the LetsLease team
If you have started seeing the name Lepas and had to look it up, you are not alone. It is a genuinely new brand in the UK, and there is not yet much written about it. Here is what it actually is, what it will sell, and how to think about leasing a car from a brand with no UK history behind it.
The short version: Lepas is the fourth UK brand from Chery, the Chinese manufacturer already behind Omoda and Jaecoo. It is design-led and entirely electrified, and it is launching with three SUVs.
Quick Answer
Lepas is Chery International's newest UK brand, following Omoda, Jaecoo and Chery itself. Every Lepas is electrified: either a plug-in hybrid or fully electric. Three SUVs are planned, the flagship L8 plug-in hybrid, the fully electric L6, and the compact electric L4.
You can see current Lepas lease deals and the Lepas L8 alongside the rest of the market.
Who Are Lepas?
Lepas is a new brand from Chery International, and it is worth understanding that Chery is not a newcomer to the UK even if this badge is. Chery arrived here in 2024 and has since become one of the fastest growing manufacturers in the market, largely through its Omoda and Jaecoo sub-brands. In July 2026 those two between them outsold Hyundai, Nissan and Ford.
Lepas is the fourth brand in that family and it is positioned differently again: design-led, and electrified across the whole range from the start rather than adding electric versions later. Where Omoda leans practical and Jaecoo leans slightly more premium, Lepas is being pitched on styling and interior design.
The Three Lepas Models
| Model | Powertrain | Range | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lepas L8 | Plug-in hybrid, Chery Super Hybrid | Up to 66 miles electric, over 800 miles combined | The flagship. A five seat SUV at the larger end of the mid-size class, 4.7m long. |
| Lepas L6 | Fully electric, 65kWh LFP battery, 160kW (217PS) | Up to 279 miles | The volume electric SUV, sitting below the L8. |
| Lepas L4 | Fully electric | To be confirmed | A compact crossover aimed at urban driving. |
The L8's numbers are the ones worth pausing on. A 66 mile electric range is longer than most plug-in hybrids on sale, which matters because a plug-in hybrid only delivers if its electric range actually covers your daily driving. Lepas also quotes 67.2mpg with the battery depleted, which addresses the usual criticism of plug-in hybrids: that they become inefficient once the charge runs out.
Should You Lease a Brand This New?
This is the real question, and the honest answer is more encouraging than you might expect, but for a specific reason rather than a general one.
The standard warning about an unproven brand is about resale value. Nobody knows what a three year old Lepas will be worth, because there are no three year old examples. If you buy one, that uncertainty is a real financial risk sitting entirely with you, and depreciation is the largest single cost of running a new car.
On a lease, that risk is not yours. The finance company owns the vehicle, takes a view on what it will be worth at the end and carries the consequences if they are wrong. You pay an agreed monthly rental and hand the car back either way. So the single strongest argument against a new brand largely disappears when you lease rather than buy, which is the opposite of the advice you will read almost everywhere else.
What to check instead
With the resale worry taken off your plate, the things worth checking are the ones you can actually assess today. Where is your nearest dealer, and how far is that to drive for servicing? Lepas has stated plans for 60 standalone UK dealerships by the end of 2026, but check what exists near you rather than the national number. And drive one, because ride and handling is where new arrivals from this part of the market have most often drawn criticism from UK road testers.
The Honest Caveats
Three things are simply unknown at this stage, and anyone telling you otherwise is guessing. There is no UK reliability record, because there has not been time for one. There are no independent long-term reviews. And the dealer and parts network is being built rather than established, which is the practical risk that a long warranty does not fully cover.
None of that makes Lepas a bad choice. Kia and Hyundai were in precisely this position in the UK thirty years ago and are now mainstream. But it does mean a test drive matters more than usual, and it means you should choose on the things you can verify rather than on the launch material.
Why Lease Your Lepas Through Us
We are an independent, whole of market broker, which matters more on a new brand than on an established one. We place leases across major funders including Lex Autolease, Novuna, Ayvens and Santander rather than being tied to a single rate, and on a brand where funders have not yet settled on a shared view of residual values, the spread between them can be wider than usual. Comparing several is worth more here than it would be on a Golf.
We are BVRLA-registered and an FCA appointed representative, we are rated Excellent on Trustpilot with most reviews naming the person who handled the deal, and you deal with the same consultant from first enquiry through to delivery. We will also tell you plainly if a Lepas is the wrong car for you, which is the part of the job that matters most on a brand nobody has driven yet.
Compare Lepas Lease Deals
Browse current Lepas lease deals and the Lepas L8, or compare them against Omoda and Jaecoo from the same parent company.
Not sure whether a new brand is right for you? Talk it through with us and we will give you a straight answer.
Lepas FAQs
Lepas is a new UK car brand from Chery International, the Chinese manufacturer that already sells here through Omoda, Jaecoo and the Chery badge itself. Lepas is its fourth UK brand.
It is positioned as design-led and is electrified across the whole range, meaning every model is either a plug-in hybrid or fully electric rather than a petrol car with an electric version added later.
Yes. Lepas is part of Chery International, one of China's largest vehicle manufacturers and an established exporter. Chery entered the UK in 2024 and has grown quickly since.
Its sister brands give a sense of the parent company's momentum here: in July 2026, Omoda and Jaecoo between them outsold Hyundai, Nissan and Ford.
Three SUVs are planned for the UK. The L8 is the flagship, a five seat plug-in hybrid measuring 4.7 metres long. The L6 is a fully electric SUV sitting below it. The L4 is a compact electric crossover aimed at urban driving.
All three are SUVs, and all three are electrified, which is unusual for a brand launching a full range from scratch.
Up to 66 miles on electric power alone, with a combined range quoted at over 800 miles. That electric figure is longer than most plug-in hybrids currently on sale.
Lepas also quotes 67.2mpg with the battery depleted, which addresses the standard criticism of plug-in hybrids, namely that they become thirsty once the charge has gone. As with any official figure, treat it as a basis for comparison rather than a promise.
Up to 279 miles from a 65kWh LFP battery, paired with a 160kW motor producing 217PS. LFP chemistry is generally more tolerant of being charged to 100 percent regularly than other battery types.
That range puts it in the competitive part of the mid-size electric SUV class. Real world range will fall short in cold weather and at sustained motorway speeds, as it does with every electric car.
Less risky than buying one, which surprises most people. The main danger with an unproven brand is not knowing what the car will be worth in three years, and on a lease the finance company carries that risk while you simply hand the car back at the end.
The risks that remain are practical rather than financial: how far away your nearest dealer is, how long parts might take, and whether you actually like how the car drives. All three can be checked before you commit.
Yes, and the network is being built out. Lepas has stated plans for 60 standalone UK dealerships by the end of 2026.
Check what exists near you rather than relying on the national figure, because a growing network means coverage is uneven while it is being established. It matters for servicing and for parts, and a long warranty is only as useful as the network standing behind it.
They share a parent company but are aimed at different buyers. Omoda leans practical and value-focused, Jaecoo is pitched slightly more premium with a rugged look, and Lepas is design-led and electrified throughout.
Because they come from the same group, they tend to share powertrain technology, which is why Chery's Super Hybrid system appears across several of them. You can compare Omoda and Jaecoo lease deals alongside Lepas to see which suits you.
There is no independent Euro NCAP result for Lepas models at the time of writing, because the brand is too new to have been tested. That is not the same as being unsafe, but it does mean there is no independent verdict yet.
Its sister brands offer some context: several Chery group models hold five star Euro NCAP ratings. If a five star rating is important to you, check the specific model rather than the brand, and wait for a result if one is not yet published.
Nobody knows yet, and it would be dishonest to claim otherwise. The brand is too new in the UK for any reliability record to exist, and that is a genuine unknown rather than a hidden problem.
What we can say is that a manufacturer warranty transfers most of the repair risk away from you for the length of a typical lease, and that Chinese cars built from 2022 onwards have largely closed the powertrain gap with established rivals, with software being the area that still lags.
Lease, if you want one at this stage. Buying means taking on an unknown resale value personally, on a brand with no history to forecast from, and that is the largest single cost of running a new car.
Leasing hands that unknown to the funder and leaves you with a fixed monthly cost and a car you hand back at the end. It is also a low-commitment way to try a brand nobody has lived with yet.
Because we are whole of market, and on a brand this new that matters more than usual. We place leases across major funders including Lex Autolease, Novuna, Ayvens and Santander, and where funders have not yet settled on a shared view of residual values, the spread between their rates can be wider than on an established model.
We are BVRLA-registered and an FCA appointed representative, rated Excellent on Trustpilot with most reviews naming the person who handled the deal, and you deal with the same consultant from first enquiry to delivery. We will also tell you if a Lepas is the wrong choice for you.