If there’s an aspect of the extremely fast-paced nature of the Chinese auto industry, it’s keeping up with all the new brands that keep emerging from the different manufacturers.

Each Chinese OEM is branching out to have more brands with more models, much in the same way that the Japanese OEMs have different brands at different tiers. Think Toyota/Daihatsu/Lexus or Nissan/Datsun/Infiniti, but the Chinese version is expanding much faster and at a grander scale.

Chery is one such major Chinese manufacturer. They have already branched out from Chery to also have Kaiyi, Exeed (premium), Luxeed (luxury), Omoda/Jaecoo (for export), Karry, Jetour (under the holding group), among others. Last year, they announced they were launching a new automotive badge called Lepas (stylized as LEPAS), a portmanteau of the words Leap and Passion. They’re going for a more sporty, more dynamic aesthetic with Lepas, and just this week, their first model rolled off the assembly line.

Chery calls it the Lepas L8, and it was revealed in a ceremony at one of their factories in China. The vehicle is a new 5-door crossover SUV that appears larger than a compact model.

Concept Design of Lepas from last year

The new vehicle represents Chery’s ambitions to go more upmarket and more lifestyle. They took styling inspiration from the leopard (much like what Mazda did with Kodo). They say that the vehicle has “sleek styling, tech-forward cabin, spacious comfort, and comprehensive safety features” to offer to “urban elites seeking a premium lifestyle”.

Lepas didn’t announce any major specifications, but the new L8 appears to bear a lot of similarities to the new Chery Tiggo 8. That would make sense, as having a different top hat on an already familiar platform for Chery will make it economical to build.

Since there are no specifications, we can infer (based on the Tiggo 8) that the L8 will likely be 4.7 meters long, and could have either a 1.6L turbo gasoline engine with 197 PS or the punchier 254 PS 2.0L turbo gasoline engine. Transmission choice -if those are indeed the specifications- will likely be centered around a DCT. No mention if the vehicle will have PHEV or other hybrid technologies.

Chery says that eventually, Lepas will expand to cover major (or all) segments in the industry. We’ll just have to wait and observe what they roll off the assembly line in the future, likely based on existing Chery platforms too.