LEPAS L8 SUV Priced From £34,900 as First UK Cars Set Sail for Britain

New Chinese-owned brand LEPAS has confirmed UK pricing for its first model, the L8 plug-in hybrid SUV, starting at £34,900 on the road. Almost 1,300 examples have already boarded a cargo ship bound for the Port of Tyne, with test drives set to begin in late August and the first customer deliveries arriving in September.

What the L8 Costs and What You Get

The L8 comes in two trims. The entry-level Essence starts at £34,900 on the road and covers technology, safety and comfort equipment aimed at the mainstream buyer. The Elevate trim adds £3,000 to that, at £37,900 on the road, and brings extra interior finish and equipment for buyers who want a more upmarket cabin.

That pricing puts the L8 in a crowded corner of the plug-in hybrid SUV market. The MG HS PHEV undercuts it by a wide margin, starting at £32,495, while the BYD Seal U DM-i spans a similar bracket, from around £33,340 for its entry Boost trim up to £40,040 for a top-spec all-wheel-drive version. LEPAS is betting that a longer warranty and a bigger battery will justify sitting closer to the BYD than the MG on price.

Ray Wang, Managing Director of LEPAS UK, said the first cars leaving the factory marked a turning point for the brand: “The whole LEPAS UK team was emotional seeing images of the first LEPAS L8 models boarding the transporter ship and setting sail for the UK. This moment comes after months of hard work by the whole team, making sure that everything is in place for the launch of our brand and for our customers to have the best possible experience of LEPAS.”

Power, Range and Charging

Every L8 uses the same LEPAS Super Hybrid powertrain: a 1.5-litre turbo petrol engine paired with a Dedicated Hybrid Transmission, an electronic gear selector and an 18.4kWh battery. LEPAS says the battery can charge from 30 to 80 percent in as little as 20 minutes on a DC fast charger.

On the WLTP test cycle, the L8 returns a combined range of up to 745 miles and a pure electric range of up to 56 miles, with combined fuel consumption rated at up to 403.5mpg and CO2 emissions of 21g/km. Those figures put the L8’s electric-only range ahead of the entry-level BYD Seal U DM-i’s 50 miles, though behind the Comfort-spec Seal U’s 78 miles. A fully electric version of the L8 is due in 2027.

When Buyers Can Get Behind the Wheel

Dozens of new LEPAS dealerships are being fitted out across the UK ahead of the L8’s arrival, with established dealer groups including Arnold Clark and Marshall Motor Group among those opening LEPAS franchises. The first showrooms are expected to offer test drives from late August, with registrations on the new 76-plate and customer handovers beginning in early September.

Every L8 comes with a 7-year/100,000-mile vehicle warranty alongside an 8-year/100,000-mile warranty on the high-voltage battery, a longer package than most established rivals in the segment offer as standard. Wang said demand at the car’s UK public debut had already outpaced expectations: “The public’s reaction to the LEPAS L8 when they saw it for the first time at the Goodwood Festival of Speed underlined for me just how popular this model is going to be. We already have a very healthy order bank and hundreds of potential customers waiting to take test drives so we cannot wait for the boat to dock in the UK.”

Who Is Behind LEPAS

LEPAS is a new design-led brand from Chery International, the Chinese manufacturer that also builds the OMODA and JAECOO ranges already sold in the UK. LEPAS takes its name from a blend of “leopard” and a second word the brand says captures its driving character, a nod to the fluid, athletic design language the company wants to be known for. The L8 leads the brand’s UK launch this summer, with a mid-size L6 SUV and a smaller L4 city SUV set to follow in quick succession, giving LEPAS a three-model range within its first year on sale.

Chery Group reported cumulative sales of 2.8 million vehicles worldwide in 2025, a rise of 7.8 percent year on year, with new energy vehicle sales up 54.9 percent to just over 900,000 units. Exports reached 1.34 million vehicles, a record for a Chinese manufacturer, and the group’s global customer base has grown past 18.8 million users, including more than 6 million buyers outside China. That scale gives LEPAS a manufacturing and supply chain backing that newer entrants to the UK market often lack.

Order books for the L8 are already open ahead of the car’s UK arrival, following a public debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed where LEPAS says dozens of buyers placed orders without a test drive. Anyone wanting to see the car in person before committing will need to wait for their local dealership to open its doors, with the full national rollout expected to build through the autumn as more of the almost 1,300 cars now at sea reach British shores.