Strong local reception for new electric hot hatch as Cupra Australia considers additional Born variants
Cupra Australia is considering the local release of more affordable versions of the new 2023 Cupra Born electric hatchback, the first allocation of which is already sold out with more than 500 orders received before customer cars even hit the road.
A solitary flagship version of the new Cupra Born is initially available in Australia, priced at $59,990 plus on-road costs and fitted with a 77kWh battery powering a rear-mounted 170kW/310Nm motor and offering a 500km-plus range.
But in Europe there are cheaper, shorter-range versions fitted with smaller 45 and 55kWh batteries and a less powerful 110kW motor.
Speaking at the launch of the Cupra Born in Canberra this week, Cupra Australia’s head of product and planning Jeff Schafer said additional battery options were on the table.
“At the moment it’s just the one 77kWh battery with the e-boost function. We’d like to look at other batteries in the future, but for the time being it will just be the one,” he said.
“The response at a customer level has been excellent and we’ve found the brand has really resonated. Born has been amazing; to have over 500 orders before the car is really in showrooms is a great statement about how strong that product can be for us.”
Even with just one model offering, Cupra is confident it will reach meaningful and sustainable sales volumes with its first EV locally.
Schafer expects the Born’s natural monthly sales rate to be at least 100 vehicles and, if demand exceeds that figure, there is scope for a larger share of global supply.
If those figures do come to fruition, Volkswagen Group Australia’s first EV would hypothetically sit in the top five for outright EV sales behind models like the Tesla Model 3 (from $64,300) and Model Y ($69,300), Polestar 2 ($63,900), MG ZS EV ($44,990), BYD Atto 3 ($48,011) and the upcoming GWM Ora hatch ($44,490).
“The more orders we take the bigger voice we have with the factory in terms of production,” Schafer said.
“We were talking to [Cupra CEO] Wayne Griffiths about this maybe six months ago, and his commitment was that if we can show the demand then they’ll produce the cars and that’s what we’ve seen so far.
“When we had initial intake and that was above expectation, we were able to negotiate extra production to meet that demand. As of this week we would have built 630 cars up to the factory gate – some are here, some are on the boat, some are on the wharf.
“I think there’s potential to do three digits a month with the Born, over 100 vehicles a month. We’re just getting them into showrooms now but we’ve had quite a number of customers pre-orders based on what they’ve read and seen, but others want to actually touch and feel the car as well.”
More broadly, Cupra’s global executive vice-president for sales and marketing, Kai Vogler, said the Spanish brand’s Australian division was hitting its targets so far – 10 months on from its official local launch – with several new models confirmed to join the Leon, Ateca, Formentor and Born.
“Australia for us is about showing that we can hit the nerve of a new generation in countries outside of Europe, so one thing is the volume but the second thing is to create this niche between mass and premium for these young, progressive customers, and we want to be the ones that keep customers from going to other brands. For me that is the first priority,” he said.
“So far I think we have sold 2000 cars here, and I think last year we proposed 5000 cars by 2024. That would be a nice next step and along the way we want to steadily grow.
“As it stands right now I have the confidence to say it’s working.”
On a global scale, Vogler said the fledgling Volkswagen Group brand had already outpaced initial sales forecasts.
“We’re at a remarkable pace, exceeding our expectations,” he said.
“Everything we expect to come, we’ve achieved much earlier. Have we hit the nerve of a generation of customers? Clearly yes. Have we put the brand in a spot where we’d like to be, in between mainstream and premium for young, progressive customers? Yes.
“We have a lot of positive feedback, the numbers are growing.”
Globally, Cupra exceeded 150,000 sales in 2022, with the Formentor crossover comprising two-thirds of that figure.
Vogler said the Formentor would continue to boast the lion’s share of sales both in Australia and globally, with the Born slotting into number two position.
“I don’t think we will hit the record numbers of the Formentor with the Born. With Formentor, you would have seen the sales figures of 100,000 vehicles last year. We’ll probably exceed 100,000 sales this year,” he said.
“Looking at the 30,000 Borns we sold last year, I think we would be satisfied if we could double that figure this year, which would make it the second-highest seller.”
Mid-term, Cupra is hoping to achieve 500,000 annual global sales, a goal facilitated by a swag of forthcoming models including the Terramar, Tavascan and UrbanRebel SUVs.
“At the moment, our annual production is around 150,000 cars and in the mid- to long-term our ambition is to go much higher than that,” he said.
“Last year we spoke about product upgrades to the Cupra Formentor and Cupra Leon, but also new models. The first of those will the Tavascan SUV, but also the Cupra Terramar, which will be available in plug-in hybrid.
“Then we also have our smaller car, the Cupra Urban Rebel… it has the potential to break all sales records and be a great car. It brings electric mobility into the city and it’s a great car.
“We said last year we want to go to production of around 500,000 cars, which is doable with these new models. We’re on track and the trajectory is good, March has confirmed our ambitions with more than 20,000 cars sold.”
Another key part of Cupra’s global rollout will be new production facilities; most notably, establishing the Tavascan’s manufacturing base in China.
With that said, Vogler insists the Cupra brand will remain intrinsically Spanish.
“You know that we want to produce our small electric cars and our battery factory in Spain,” he said. “We’ve already communicated that we want to produce the Tavascan in China, so that’s the current footprint we have.
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Keyword: Cheaper Cupra Born EVs coming