Expert Insights: Q&A with Chery Australia chief Lucas Harris on launching new brand Lepas

The Australian automotive industry has changed dramatically over the last five years, with dozens of all-new models hitting our roads and new brand names popping up on car dealerships across the country.

With only a few exceptions – including the belated arrival of Cadillac and the Volkswagen Group's Cupra brand from Spain – most of these new entrants are ambitious Chinese brands seeking a slice of our suburban driveways.

Not surprisingly, there’s more still to come, including another brand under the Chery umbrella, Lepas, which is set to join fellow brands Chery and Omoda Jaecoo later this year with a range of (you guessed it) family-friendly SUVs.

But in this exclusive Expert Insights interview, Chery Motor Australia Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director Lucas Harris says Lepas will bring a uniquely vibrant and playful character that will challenge perceptions and potentially attract a new, more inner-city group of customers.

And it will need to, because Lepas and Omoda Jaecoo will also be joined in the Chery stable by the Jetour brand by the end of this year, and the Freelander and iCaur brands in 2027.

From an Australian point of view, what is Lepas, how is it different to the group’s other brands – Chery, Jaecoo and Omoda – and where does it fit in within the group?

I think if I had to sum it up in one word, refined is the answer I'd give. It is a lot more refined product.

All of the [Lepas] models that will launch over the next 12 to 18 months are all on totally new platforms, which are unique to Lepas.  While there's obviously shared technology across the different brands, the platforms themselves are unique to Lepas, and that really translates through to driving experience.

The driving experience is a lot more refined, both from a dynamic handling point of view, but also how quiet the cabin is, the smooth power delivery of the battery-electric powertrain, and all those sorts of things you'd expect.

Having said that, Lepas is also a lot more playful and a lot more independent thinking than the other brands we have. We sort of talk about it internally as the SUV for non-SUV people. It's a bit more fun and a bit more interesting, a bit bolder in its design and, as you’ll see, the colour palette is all bright colours.

We will also express that in our marketing activities and materials, and the way that we show up will be directed towards customers that consider themselves more individualistic. It's those vibrant expressionists.

Would you call them trendsetters?

Yeah, and maybe they are the type of customers that don't want an SUV because you know SUVs are typically a bit sort of bland, but they don't have a choice because they've got young families and they need the practicality of an SUV.

So, we want to give them something which I believe doesn't actually exist in the market. I think there's quite a large white space for something that is bold and fun and interesting, but also gives you that practicality that, whether you like it or not, you have to have.

Are you saying the SUV has already turned into the station wagon and become a bit daggy?

Yeah. But not in every sense.

First of all, station wagons are pretty rare beasts these days and I don't want to say that all SUVs are boring, but they are a bit bland.

You know that there's very few options out there that are interesting or a bit exciting or a bit different. And, in fairness, to the to the market, how many different ways can you draw a medium sized SUV, right?

So, that's where I think we've really tried to stretch the envelope with Lepas a little bit, by making the design more interesting and having the brand show up in a way that is more colourful and more vibrant.

Now, we know that's not going to be everyone's cup of tea, right? And that's by design. We've got other brands to satisfy people that are looking for something more conservative.

Lepas is trying to capture a part of the market which is in a bit of a white space, and talk to people that aren't really being spoken to by anyone. So that's the intent behind it.

Do you consider Lepas a premium brand positioned above Chery, Jaecoo and Omoda? Where does it fit in within the family of brands you already have in Australia?

If we talk about our volume across all the brands that we'll have in market, our thinking is not like the traditional OEM model where they stack them on top of each other: This one's entry-level, and this one's slightly better, and this one's slightly more premium. That's not how we separate and segment our brands.

It's not about premium-ness either, and I think our consumers are more intelligent than that and can see through those models that are positioned as more expensive so they expect more for their money.

Our brand positioning is more horizontal, where one brand is targeted at a particular style of customer who's looking for something unique. So, it's not about premium positioning stacking on top. It's more about brand image and the way the brand shows up and how the brand is designed and what group of customers does that talk to. We would be silly to think that all customers fit into one of four categories, right?

You're going to have some people that will fit squarely into one, but you're going to get a little bit of crossover where, you know, maybe 20 per cent of the customers also kind of like the look of that one as well, and that's fine.

Our goal is to try and broaden the appeal of all of our brands across all consumers.

I think Lepas is a missing part for us at the moment. That white space of vibrant expressionists or people who don't want an SUV but don't have a choice. Nobody is talking to them at the moment.

So you're confident Lepas won't cannibalise or detract from any of the Chery group's other brands or model lines already established here?

No, I don't think it will and, like I said, you're going to have customers that fit into this sphere wholly, and others that maybe straddle into the Omoda Jaecoo sphere.

And if this sphere is enough to bring them in to look at one brand but they make a decision to purchase one of our other brands, actually that's also okay because maybe the other brand on its own wasn't enough to bring them in in the first place, right?

It's really about trying to increase our overall attractiveness to get people to put us on the shopping list in the first place. So, introducing a brand that talks to different customers actually just increases the overall presence, rather than solely taking from an existing one.

Tell us about the model lineup that Lepas will start with, and how will that stretch over time?

We will launch into the local market with the L6, which is a mid-size battery-electric SUV. And there are only about three [sub-$60,000) medium-sized battery-electric SUV options from volume brands.

So, I think there's a really huge opportunity there, and we'll launch with that model first in the last quarter of 2026, closely followed by the L4, which is the smaller SUV and will also be fully electric.

Quite frankly, I think they're the most attractive models in the lineup. To be honest with you, the front-end design is quite different.

And then as we start to get into the early parts of next year, we'll have plug-in and hybrid options as well.

Further down the track, towards the end of next year, we'll have a small hatchback option, which is a really great looking car. I was at the factory a few weeks ago and saw the early pre-production model, and was really excited. I think it's a really good, really attractive, sporty-looking little car. So, I think that would be excellent.

Is that a light (B-segment) hatch or a small (C-segment) hatch like a Mazda 3?

It's more Mazda 3 size. And definitely a hatchback, unmistakably. So, I'm really excited for that.

I think that can answer a lot of questions in the market at the moment.

And then, lastly, we'll also have an extra-large SUV as well. So, by the end of next year, at this stage the plan is five models with split powertrain options of both battery-electric and plug-in hybrid.

Was it a strategic decision to launch purely with the battery-electric models first?

It's partly appealing to those kinds of target customers that are mostly urban living, so obviously that is a very suitable environment for BEV.

It's a mixture of that, and there's not many options in the market in that segment, so I think that's a quite compelling reason to bring something in to have a good boost straight out of the gates.

How will the Lepas retail experience differ from your other brands, and will it share showroom space with Chery and Omoda Jaecoo?

No, not always. There are some instances where they might be next door, but there's also going to be independent dealers. It's a totally independent network and independent franchise.

Obviously, there are only so many dealer groups and dealer operators in the country, so naturally there's going to be some overlap and, frankly speaking, the feedback we get from our existing dealer partners for other brands is quite positive. Maybe they're just being kind, but they are quite complimentary of how we're operating, and they like working with us. So, naturally, there's a high amount of interest when we've got a new brand and a new franchise.

But it's still assessed on a case-by-case basis, whether the facility that they are able to provide is suitable, and is going to meet the requirements for the brand. Is the area that they want to put it in the right area? Are we going to be able to reach the right customers and all those sorts of things.

So, the short answer is yes; sometimes it will be next door to our other brands, but that's the nature of the beast in the market.

And you know, retail footprints are hard at the moment, and there's not a lot of empty freestanding space. But not exclusively so.

Are you looking at any other opportunities like pop-ups or things like that to expose the brand into more urban areas?

Yeah, it's interesting. In our experience, those sort of shopping centre-orientated pop-ups can be a bit hit-and-miss: When they work well, they really work well, or they just don't work at all.

There's kind of no in between, so we're going through an exercise trying to identify which areas is it that they actually work well in.

Customers still want to test drive cars, and they still want the ease of being able to get in and out of the dealership and those sorts of things. So it's tricky and I don't think those style of arrangements work as well here as they do overseas.

To be honest with you, the shopping centres that have the high foot traffic that you actually want to be in, the cost is enormous, so it quite quickly becomes not really viable.

So how will you separate Lepas from the other brands in terms of the look an feel of the dealerships?  

I'm not sure if we'll go as far as the leopard-print wall coverings, but we laugh because it's been proposed.

The interesting thing about the showroom mix is balancing all the brands, but also giving each of them their own identity. There's still this kind of – even in our own people and in the dealers – naturally conservative lean, and so everyone wants to be doing something normal.

For me, it’s been an interesting exercise to get people to think differently and open their minds a little bit.

But the showroom design, certainly from the exterior, is quite different from our existing brands. But I think the most important part is inside the showroom. So, a big part of what we're looking at the minute is how we fit-out the facilities and merchandising.

How do we want to present the product inside the showroom? What do we want that experience to be like for customers? Is there going to be a signature scent inside the showroom? Is there a signature playlist that's inside the showrooms? 

I really don't like the sort of old-fashioned point of sale ethos, with very clinical and almost hospital-esque type showrooms. So, we are looking at how do we bring that to life a little bit more.

Will we see that same ‘outside the square’ thinking in terms of your marketing plans? Are you looking at anything unique to make Lepas stand out from the crowd?

Yeah, but I don't want to let the cat out of the bag too much. There's some interesting ideas that have gone around at the minute which are quite bold by nature.

To be honest with you, some of the ideas may make a lot of people feel really uncomfortable inside the business because it is so different and so out there. But that's what we want, right? We know we're doing the right thing if all of us boring conservative car people are going ‘oh, I'm not sure about that’. Well, that's probably the right thing then.

So, watch this space. There's some really wacky stuff that I’m hoping we can we can deliver.

Are there any collaborations with fashion, music or influencers, or anything like that planned to make Lepas different to your other brands?

Absolutely, but none that we could name at the moment. But the music thing is a good pick-up from you because that seems to be where a lot of those vibrant expressionists live. So naturally, we're looking in that space, not only for potential influencer partners that we can work with, but also organisations that are around that we're talking to at the moment. So yeah, there's a few things bubbling away that we're getting pretty close to being able to announce.

Part of the reason for choosing that customer subset is I think they actually consume their media a little bit different from how other people consume their media. So, it's going on the journey of making sure that we understand that really well.

It’s going to be a bit of trial and error because it's a huge departure away from what we know with our other brands, and even for most of our team. A lot of them have worked for other brands in the industry, so yeah it is going to be a bit of exploration, which is quite exciting and makes the job a bit fun.

Hopefully they survive the corporate bureaucracy.

What have you done – or are currently doing – in terms of Australian testing or pre-launch localisation for the L6 before it arrives in showrooms?

It's our usual way now, where we have cars here for months on end before launch, and the main focus is obviously around electronic systems and making sure that those are as seamless as possible. So, there's been extensive testing, particularly ADAS [Advanced Driver-Assist Systems] is a huge one for every brand, right?

With L6, I think it is particularly good in that space. Also, the Lepas platform has had a lot of involvement from our German R&D centre, so there is a lot more European-style dynamic handling in that vehicle, which has been great to test in local conditions. I think you’ll immediately recognise the extra level of refinement in that new platform in its road manner and how it behaves.

I would go as far to say that, in my opinion, I think it's the best handling and performing vehicle that we've got across the group, which makes sense because it's the newest.

So does L6 have a dynamic character that will be unique to Lepas compared to Chery, Omoda and Jaecoo?

Totally… at least until such time as the other brands have a generational platform update. At the moment, Lepas is on a unique platform, and as those other brands develop over time, naturally their platforms will develop. But, at the moment, Lepas is blessed with having a unique platform, which is good.

Lastly, you’ve talked about creating a unique buying experience for Lepas customers, but are you also looking at anything different from an ownership perspective?

No, I think from an aftersales perspective, across our group and irrespective of brand, our approach is the same, which is that we're there standing behind the product, and that's probably the only thing that is going to be consistent across all of our brands. Because frankly, what's the alternative?

We have to be there behind the product. We have to make sure that we've got the parts in place. We have to make sure that we've got the network standing behind us.  We have to all have that attitude.

The reality is, to be totally honest with you, right now we are fighting every single sale as a conquest that we're taking from someone else. I really want to get to the point where repeat customers can make up a third or more of our volume because they liked the car and it did everything that it was supposed to do.

And, if or when they had an issue, we dealt with it the right way, and we treated them fairly or better than fairly. And the customer felt like we did the right thing and we were honest and good to deal with. And then they buy another one. That that's our mission.

We don't want to be fighting for every single sale forever. We need to earn the right to have repeat customers.

MORE: Explore the Lepas showroom