New Lepas L4 EV squares up for a fight with the BMW iX1

Chery’s new luxury brand Lepas is in full expansion mode, with a new all-electric variant of the compact L4 ready to launch alongside the petrol variant when it arrives later this year. The ambitious new brand has legacy European companies in its crosshairs, with this new Lepas L4 EV directly aimed at the BMW iX1, Volvo EX30, and forthcoming new Mercedes GLA.

As we reported only this week, the L4 will sit alongside the larger L6 and L8, and will be joined by another SUV, plus a small, MINI-rivalling hatchback within two years. Lepas will adopt a multi-fuel strategy across its range, with a choice of petrol, hybrid, plug-in hybrid and full-EV powertrains on offer.

The new L4 EV will find its basis in the ICE model, which means it’ll share its key dimensions and chassis. As such, the new EV should sit at around 4.4 meters long, which places it right at the heart of the compact-SUV class.

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Few technical details have been revealed, but there’s a good chance it’ll share its electric powertrain with related models like the Jaecoo E5. This should see fitment of a 61kWh battery pack, paired with a front-mounted e-motor producing around 200bhp. The E5 will officially do around 250 miles on a charge.

As it stands, this puts the model some way behind the performance and range of its European rivals – without taking into account the big advances we expect to see across the industry over the next 12 months. Mercedes’ new GLA is expected to comfortably exceed 400 miles, and BMW’s iX1 is about to undergo its own Neue-Klasse transformation. 

With that in mind, Lepas will need some very aggressive pricing and high levels of standard kit to make up for any technical shortfalls. We’ll know more when it’s revealed in full at the China Auto Show on 24 April.

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