diff --git a/environments/manager/images.yml b/environments/manager/images.yml
index 121605a..d2e349e 100644
--- a/environments/manager/images.yml
+++ b/environments/manager/images.yml
@@ -93,14 +93,10 @@ ceph_ansible_tag: "{{ '{{' }} ceph_version|default(manager_version) {{ '}}' }}"
 {% endif -%}
 ceph_ansible_image: "{{ '{{' }} docker_registry_ansible|default('registry.osism.tech') {{ '}}' }}/{{ images['ceph_ansible'] }}:{{ '{{' }} ceph_ansible_tag {{ '}}' }}"
 
-{% if manager_version == 'latest' -%}
-kolla_ansible_tag: "{{ '{{' }} openstack_version|default('2024.2') {{ '}}' }}"
-{% else -%}
 {% if 'kolla_ansible' in versions -%}
 kolla_ansible_tag: "{{ versions['kolla_ansible'] }}"
 {% else -%}
 kolla_ansible_tag: "{{ '{{' }} openstack_version|default(manager_version) {{ '}}' }}"
 {% endif -%}
-{% endif -%}
 kolla_ansible_image: "{{ '{{' }} docker_registry_ansible|default('registry.osism.tech') {{ '}}' }}/{{ images['kolla_ansible'] }}:{{ '{{' }} kolla_ansible_tag {{ '}}' }}"
 
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index cc46116..7d9d879 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ PyYAML==6.0.3
 ansible==11.13.0
 packaging==26.1
 pwgen==0.8.2.post0
+pytest==9.0.3
 python-gilt==1.2.3
 requests==2.33.1
 tabulate==0.10.0
diff --git a/tests/test_render_images_template.py b/tests/test_render_images_template.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..42af385
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_render_images_template.py
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+from collections import defaultdict
+import os
+import jinja2
+
+REPO_ROOT = os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)))
+TEMPLATE = "environments/manager/images.yml"
+
+
+def render(manager_version, versions_extra=None):
+    versions = defaultdict(str, versions_extra or {})
+    images = defaultdict(str)
+    env = jinja2.Environment(loader=jinja2.FileSystemLoader(REPO_ROOT))
+    return env.get_template(TEMPLATE).render(
+        images=images, manager_version=manager_version, versions=versions
+    )
+
+
+def test_latest_with_pinned_kolla_ansible_uses_pinned_tag():
+    # When manager_version=latest and kolla_ansible is present in versions
+    # (as it is once release/latest/base.yml is updated), the rendered
+    # tag must be the pinned value, not openstack_version.
+    result = render("latest", {"kolla_ansible": "0.20260328.0"})
+    assert 'kolla_ansible_tag: "0.20260328.0"' in result
+
+
+def test_pinned_release_with_kolla_ansible_uses_pinned_tag():
+    # Regression: pinned manager_version must continue to use the pinned tag.
+    result = render("10.0.0", {"kolla_ansible": "0.20260328.0"})
+    assert 'kolla_ansible_tag: "0.20260328.0"' in result
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index 5d6c4c7..988a92b 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -30,3 +30,4 @@ setenv =
 commands =
    python3 src/render-images.py
    cat images.yml
+   python3 -m pytest tests