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By Jonathan Crouch

Should you wake up to the charms of the Lepas 8? Jonathan Crouch takes a look.

Ten Second Reviewword count: 49

The Chery Motor Group expands its portfolio of UK brands with Lepas, whose first car on sale here is this one, the L8. This lower mid-sized family crossover is a five-seat PHEV and comes very well equipped and smartly finished. But can it stand out in its crowded segment?

Backgroundword count: 145

Along comes another Chinese brand, Lepas, aligning itself with products from a conglomerate that is growing in importance in the UK market. The Chinese motor industry knows what it's doing. Take one of its biggest players, the Chery Motor Group. Ostensibly for the UK it's a portfolio of four brands - Omoda, Jaecoo, Chery itself and now Lepas. In reality though, all these marques form one concerted approach, simply repackaging the same engineering in subtly different ways. So the Lepas L8 we look at here, a lower mid-sized crossover to initially be sold here as a PHEV, is not much different underneath from an Omoda 5, a Jaecoo 7 or a Chery Tiggo 8. The name Lepas is said to be derived from the words 'leopard', 'leap' and 'passion'. And of course other repackaged Chery Group products will join the Lepas line-up in the future.

Driving Experienceword count: 227

Under the skin of the L8 sits the same T1X platform the Chery Group generally uses for its mid-sized models. This can undergird ordinary petrol or all-electric powertrains, but in this case, it provides for Plug-in Hybrid unit - and one that's actually quite advanced. It's a 1.5-litre petrol engine assisted by two electric motors (one on each axle) which are energised by an 18.4kWh LFP (lithium-ion phosphate) battery supplied by CATL. Combined output is a healthy 275PS with 365Nm of torque. And 0-62mph is completed in under 9 seconds. If you keep it charged, the car will be able to cover over 50 miles before it is engine cuts in. Up to 800 miles is possible when fully using both power sources. As usual with hybrids, you have to have an automatic gearbox, in this case, Chery's single-speed 'dedicated hybrid transmission'. Only the front wheels are driven. Don't expect very much driving involvement - but customers in this segment are really looking for that. So they won't mind the light steering. What they will want is a complete set of ADAS camera safety features - and the L8 doesn't disappoint, though you can expect some of them to be quite intrusive. But you can expect exemplary refinement, aided by an active noise cancellation system which blocks external road and wind noise for a quieter cabin experience.

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