Category Archives: NEW CARS

NEW CARS

Lepas L8 Targets RAV4 and CX-5 with Cut-Price PHEV Punch in UK Debut

When a new brand lands on British shores promising premium feel for mainstream money, skepticism is part of the job description. But that’s exactly the pitch from Lepas, which has confirmed that its L8 SUV will be the first model it sells in the United Kingdom.

If the name sounds unfamiliar, the backstory shouldn’t. Lepas is owned by Chinese heavyweight Chery and sits alongside sibling brands Omoda and Jaecoo. The name itself is a carefully engineered mash-up of “leopard,” “leap,” and “passion”—marketing poetry that signals ambition, if not subtlety.

A Flagship with Familiar Targets

The L8 arrives as a five-seat, mid-size SUV aimed squarely at Europe’s family-car sweet spot. Think of the territory currently occupied by the Mazda CX-5 and Toyota RAV4—only with a price tag expected to undercut both. That means going head-to-head with established players from Mazda and Toyota while dangling the promise of extra kit for less cash.

Under the skin, the L8 rides on Chery’s modular T1X platform, shared with its Omoda and Jaecoo cousins. That’s not necessarily a drawback; economies of scale are the not-so-secret weapon of every rising brand with global ambitions.

Plug-In Power, with EV to Follow

Although full UK specs remain under wraps, clues come from markets where the L8 is already on sale. In Indonesia, it’s offered exclusively as a plug-in hybrid, pairing a 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine with an electric motor and an 18.3-kWh battery. The combined output stands at 204 horsepower, and the electric-only range is quoted at 56 miles—enough to cover most weekday commutes without waking the petrol engine.

Given that the UK-market Jaecoo 7 uses the same setup, expect the L8 to follow suit. An all-electric version is also likely waiting in the wings, especially since the T1X architecture already supports full EV applications in related models. In other words, Lepas appears to be hedging its bets—PHEV now, EV soon.

Clean Cabin, Big Screens

Inside, the L8 leans heavily into the minimalist playbook. A portrait-oriented 13.2-inch infotainment touchscreen dominates the center stack, while a 10.2-inch digital instrument cluster handles driver duties. Refreshingly, Lepas hasn’t gone full touchscreen purist: physical climate buttons and a proper volume dial remain. There’s also a wireless phone charger, because of course there is.

The brand promises “next-generation driving assistance,” though details remain vague. Expect the usual suite of lane-keeping aids, adaptive cruise control, and collision mitigation tech, but we’ll reserve judgment until the spec sheet drops.

More to Come

Full UK-market details are due in the coming weeks ahead of a summer launch. And the L8 won’t be alone for long. According to Autocar, Lepas also plans to bring its L4 and L6 crossovers to Britain, offering a mix of pure internal-combustion, plug-in hybrid, and fully electric powertrains.

For now, the L8 represents the opening salvo: a family SUV with premium aspirations and a value-driven pitch. If Lepas can deliver on price without cutting too many corners, the established order in Britain’s hyper-competitive SUV class may have reason to glance nervously in its rearview mirror.

Source: Autocar

NEW CARS

Opel Corsa YES Special Edition

For five consecutive years, Germany’s best-selling small car hasn’t worn a VW badge. It’s been the Opel Corsa—a quietly competent, sharply priced supermini that’s built its empire on sensible virtues. Now, Opel is asking a different question: What if sensible could also shout?

Enter the Corsa YES special edition, now dipped in something called Koral Orange. And no, this isn’t your garden-variety traffic-cone hue. It’s metallic, it’s saturated, and it’s unapologetically attention-seeking. In a segment where grayscale still dominates dealership forecourts, Opel has essentially handed its bestseller a highlighter.

Orange Is the New Sensible

The new Koral Orange paint doesn’t arrive alone. A carbon-black roof and 16-inch BiColour Diamond-cut alloys in black and silver give the Corsa a bit of visual tension—like it’s wearing a tailored suit with bright sneakers. The effect works. It’s sporty without trying too hard, youthful without veering into cartoon territory.

Inside, Opel keeps the theme cohesive. The black “Banda” seats wear a premium leather-look finish with orange stitching and stripes that echo the exterior. Matching accents stretch across the doors and instrument panel, while a black headliner adds a touch of seriousness to balance the flair. It’s coordinated in a way that suggests actual designers were involved, rather than a parts-bin color experiment.

And yes, the steering wheel—flat-bottomed and wrapped in vegan leatherette—comes standard. In 2026, sustainability isn’t a bonus feature; it’s table stakes. Opel knows this.

Digital by Default

The real surprise here isn’t the paint—it’s the standard equipment list. Unlike many special editions that lean heavily on cosmetic upgrades, the Corsa YES brings substance.

Every version, whether petrol, hybrid, or fully electric, now features fully digital displays as standard. That means a 10-inch central touchscreen paired with a 7-inch digital driver display. No analog dials sneaking in on the cheaper trims. No “upgrade required” asterisks. Just screens, everywhere.

Connectivity and infotainment are baked in, not bolted on. It’s the kind of move that keeps a volume seller competitive in a segment where buyers increasingly expect their €24,000 hatchback to feel like a downsized luxury car.

The Price Stays Put

Here’s the part that feels almost rebellious: despite the new metallic paint and the expanded equipment list, Opel hasn’t raised the price. The Corsa YES still starts at €24,340 in Germany.

That’s a bold play in a market where “special edition” often translates to “special invoice.” Opel is effectively refreshing its top seller without punishing the buyer. For a car that already dominates its segment, that’s less a tweak and more a strategic flex.

Add-Ons Without the Guilt

If you’re the type who treats an options list like a buffet, Opel offers a couple of reasonably priced packages.

The €150 Comfort Pack adds an electric parking brake (standard on the electric version), a center armrest with storage, and a second remote key. It’s the kind of practical upgrade that feels underpriced in today’s market.

Then there’s the €700 YES Tech Package, bundling a 130-degree reversing camera, front and rear parking sensors, heated and electrically adjustable mirrors, and keyless start. It’s not groundbreaking tech, but in a B-segment hatch, it nudges the Corsa closer to compact-class comfort.

And if Koral Orange feels like too much caffeine for your taste, Opel also offers the YES edition in Eucalyptus Green—still coordinated with matching interior accents—for the same €700 premium over standard colors.

Standing Out in a Sea of Small Cars

Opel’s Patrick Dinger calls the Corsa a customer favorite, and the sales charts back him up. But success in the small-car segment isn’t static. Buyers want value, yes—but they also want personality.

The updated Corsa YES doesn’t reinvent the formula that made it Germany’s small-car champion. Instead, it amplifies it. More color. More digital hardware. More standard features. Same price.

In a class defined by compromise, the Corsa YES makes a simple statement: you don’t have to blend in just because your car fits in.

Source: Opel

NEW CARS

VW Golf GTI Roadster

Half a century after three simple letters rewired the hot-hatch formula, Volkswagen is throwing itself a birthday party the only way it knows how: by reminding us just how far the GTI idea can be stretched before it snaps.

Fifty years ago, the original Volkswagen Golf GTI turned an ordinary hatchback into a cult object. Since then, the badge has migrated to smaller siblings—the Polo, the Lupo, even the up!—and briefly to the swoopy Volkswagen Scirocco GTI. There was even a whisper of a Passat GTI prototype at one point. But in the public imagination, GTI means Golf. Always has, probably always will.

And yet, to celebrate its golden anniversary, Volkswagen is shining the spotlight not on a tidy special edition or a modest power bump, but on something far more unhinged: the Volkswagen Golf GTI Roadster.

Originally conceived in 2014 as a virtual fever dream for the Gran Turismo 6, the GTI Roadster was the kind of concept that only makes sense when the laws of physics and federal crash standards are optional. Most remember it in red or white, all angles and aggression. For 2026, it returns wearing a deep green finish—likely a nod to the dark moss green metallic reserved for the anniversary Volkswagen Golf GTI Edition 50.

If the standard Golf GTI has always been evolution over revolution, the Roadster is a full-blown rebellion.

Yes, it started life as a Mk7 underneath. But Volkswagen lopped off the roof, ditched the rear seats, and wrapped the remaining structure in an entirely new body. The C-pillars were repurposed into dramatic roll hoops. The doors? They swing skyward in full supercar cosplay. From the vented hood to the towering rear wing, there’s barely a trace of sensible hatchback left. This isn’t a GTI turned up to 11; it’s a GTI that ran off and joined a touring-car championship on another planet.

Because it was never destined for production, Volkswagen’s designers were free to ignore the usual buzzkills—pedestrian impact regulations, cost targets, the concept of practicality. The result looked far more outrageous than the stillborn Volkswagen BlueSport, a mid-engined roadster that once seemed like a plausible halo car before quietly fading into history.

Under the hood louvers sat something no production GTI has ever dared to house: a twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter V6 good for 510 horsepower and 560 Nm of torque. It drove through a seven-speed dual-clutch DSG gearbox, but instead of spinning just the front wheels—as every GTI had done before—the Roadster sent power to all four corners via 4Motion. In that sense, it was closer in philosophy to the all-paw Volkswagen Golf R than to its front-drive siblings.

Performance claims were appropriately supercar-baiting. Volkswagen said the Roadster would rocket from 0 to 100 km/h in 3.6 seconds and top out at 309 km/h. That made it a tenth quicker to 100 than the wild Volkswagen Golf GTI W12-650—though the Bentley-powered W12 ultimately held the higher terminal velocity at 325 km/h. Yes, there was a time when Volkswagen stuffed a W12 behind the seats of a Golf. The Roadster feels almost restrained by comparison.

Almost.

Despite losing its roof, the GTI Roadster wasn’t a featherweight. At 1,421 kilograms, it was actually a touch heavier than the three-door Mk7 GTI, the last of the simpler, purer body styles. Blame the all-wheel-drive hardware, the larger V6, the massive brakes, and those center-lock 20-inch wheels wrapped in rubber measuring 235/35 ZR20 up front and a steamroller-like 275/30 ZR20 out back.

In other words, this was no stripped-out track toy. It was a rolling what-if—a glimpse at what happens when you take a democratic performance icon and let the engineers fantasize without accountants hovering nearby.

The genius of the GTI has always been its balance: usable performance, everyday livability, attainable price. The Roadster flips that formula on its head. It is impractical, excessive, and gloriously unnecessary. And that’s precisely why it works as a 50th-anniversary celebration.

Because sometimes, the best way to honor a legend isn’t to polish it—it’s to imagine what it would look like with the volume knob snapped clean off.

Source: Volkswagen