Lepas L8 SUVs arrive in UK for August test drives

Lepas confirmed that the first L8 SUVs will arrive in the UK in late August 2026 for test drives, with customer deliveries scheduled to start in September. The vehicles will dock at the Port of Tyne on the AICC Kunpeng carrier after the ship departed Taicang Port in Jiangsu and most recently arrived in Singapore earlier in July.

GB News reported that the L8 is equipped with a 1.5-litre turbo petrol engine paired to a Dedicated Hybrid Transmission.

An 18.4 kWh battery supplies up to 56 miles of electric-only range, while the full powertrain provides a combined range of up to 745 miles. The vehicle achieves combined fuel consumption of up to 403.5 mpg and emits 21 grams of CO2 per kilometre. It can be fast-charged from 30 percent to 80 percent in 20 minutes.

A fully electric version of the L8 is scheduled to launch in 2027. The model made its first UK public appearance at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in July 2026, where an estimated 123,000 people visited the Lepas stand. Dozens of drivers placed deposits on the vehicle without having driven it.

Ray Wang, managing director of Lepas UK, stated that the team was emotional seeing images of the first L8 models boarding the ship. He added that the reception at Goodwood showed how popular the model would be and noted a healthy order bank with hundreds of customers awaiting test drives. The L8 Essence plug-in hybrid starts at £34,900 on the road, while the L8 Elevate starts at £37,900.

The vehicles will move from the port to Lepas dealerships, including those operated by Marshall Motor Group and Arnold Clark, for late-August demonstrations.