Fledgling brand Cupra hasn’t put a tyre on bitumen in Australia yet but it’s already poised to become something of a cult offering within the wider Volkswagen Group.
Like fellow Volkswagen Group brand, Skoda, Cupra has the potential to lure a different buyer from Volkswagen’s mainstay models like the Golf and Tiguan.
In the UK, the Cupra range is seen as a low-volume performance-focused brand chasing younger buyers through its sharper styling and low price point.
The Spanish car brand, once a performance division of VW Group-owned Seat but since 2018 a stand-alone brand, adds to the range of hot hatches and SUVs from its German parent.
Cupra (pronounced Coo-pra) is to Seat as AMG is to Mercedes-Benz and M is to BMW. Only selected Seat dealers in Europe sell Cupra with the focus and marketing impetus on performance aimed at the enthusiast.
But while the brand is marketed as uptown, it’s pricing is attractively affordable.
In the UK, the Cupra Leon plug-in hybrid (PHEV) is the equivalent to about Australian $40,500 — which is about $4000 (or 10 per cent) cheaper than its UK sibling, the base VW Golf PHEV.
The Cupra Ateca 225kW AWD is priced at the equivalent of $49,200 compared with the VW Tiguan 162TSI R-Line AWD 147kW Australian price of $55,990.
Australia is expected to welcome Cupra in July with three models initially, including two based on existing Seat models – the Leon and Ateca – and the third, a Cupra-designed SUV coupe dubbed Formentor.
They will be followed by two all-electric models, the Born hatch in 2023 and Tavascan coupe-style SUV in 2024. Both use the MEB electric vehicle platform shared with the Audi e-tron and Volkswagen ID series.
Prices and final specification won’t be available until closer to the third-quarter launch.
In the UK – which as a major right-hand drive market can indicate what’s coming to Australia – the Leon specs include a 183kW/250Nm 2.0-litre petrol engine and dual-clutch transmission, with a length of 4368mm and luggage room of 270 litres.
The Ateca has a 221kW/400Nm 2.0-litre turbo-petrol engine, is a fraction longer than the Leon but has a much bigger 510-litre cargo space.
The Formentor is longer at 4450mm, comes with a 110kW/250Nm 1.5-litre or 140kW/320Nm 2.0-litre turbo-petrol engines and boot space of 420 litres. Australia could decide to bypass the 1.5-litre and stay with the VW-sourced 2.0-litre that is already well known in the Group’s brands.
When Cupra was announced for Australia last year, brand president Wayne Griffiths said: “Australia is a young market and Cupra is a young brand.”
“Customers are looking for new brands, there is a high middle-class income and it is a progressive society. We are confident that Cupra can be successful in this country.”
Cupra sold 79,300 vehicles globally in 2021, up a massive 189.4 per cent on 2020. Its soaring sales were in contrast to its parent, Seat, that reported a fall in sales of 2.0 per cent, although the sales were much higher at 399,300 units.
Cupra said the reason for the sales increase was due to appealing styling, performance that attracted enthusiasts, and the electrified variants.
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