Australia-bound Spanish performance brand Cupra – a subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group – will launch at least four new models by the end of 2025, two of which will be “announced” in the next two years with hybrid or electric power.
These two new electrified models in 2022 or 2023 will join production versions of the Tavascan electric mid-size SUV and UrbanRebel electric city car concepts in 2024 and 2025 respectively to double Cupra’s line-up, from the Leon small car, Ateca and Formentor SUVs, and Born electric car offered today.
While specifics are yet to be outlined, silhouettes of the two new Cupras shown during an event overnight suggest one is a mid-size or large wagon similar to a Skoda Octavia or Volkswagen Arteon, while the other is a taller SUV with a coupe-like roofline.
Cupra CEO Wayne Griffiths promises the two new vehicles will models “no one has seen yet” – a statement affirmed both officially and unofficially, as spy photographers in Europe are yet to spot any new Cupra models testing since Born EV testing came to an end last year.
Speaking to European media after the event, Griffiths hinted one of the models may not be fully electric, and merely a hybrid.
“I can tell you that they [the new cars] will be in segments that are growing. There will be, I think in a lot of cases, crossover [between segments]. Not in a classical segment,” Griffiths told Auto Express.
“There will always be something that is a mixture, something unique. Instead of just a classical SUV, or a classical coupe, or a classical limousine [sedan].”
Speaking to Autocar, Griffiths added: “Those two cars, from a Cupra perspective, have to add on, not substitute, so we have to stay away from the other cars.
“We’ve got quite a lot by then if you add it up: we’ve got Formentor, Ateca will probably still be around, we have the Tavascan, the Born and we have the small BEV, so there is still room for more cars, and we are looking at models for the future.”
It remains to be seen how large the new wagon and SUV models are, as Cupra already offers the small Leon Sportstourer wagon in Europe, plus the sleek, almost coupe-styled Formentor SUV.
It’s also unclear if these vehicles will spawn equivalents from fellow VW Group subsidiary Seat – out of which Cupra was spun in 2018 – though overseas reports suggest they will be standalone models, like the current Born, Formentor and upcoming Tavascan.
While the cars might be standalone Cupra vehicles, Griffths told Auto Express any new models “have to make sense for [Cupra] as well as the Volkswagen Group”, if they are to be approved for production. The executive said they won’t be rebadges of existing VW Group models, either.
The models were announced as part of a ‘Cupra 2 X’ online event overnight, celebrating Cupra’s four-year anniversary as a stand-alone brand – and its plans for 2022, in which aims to double its global sales to nearly 160,000, from 79,300 in 2021 (70 per cent of which was accounted for by the Formentor SUV).
With eight models in showrooms at the end of 2025 – with the oldest in the range, the Ateca SUV, to “probably still be around”, according to CEO Griffiths – Cupra’s “ambition” is to go fully-electric at the end of the decade.
The brand will launch in Australia this July, with the Leon hatch, Ateca mid-size SUV and dedicated Formentor SUV. The Born electric car is expected to follow in the final months of 2022.
Keyword: Cupra to debut two new electrified models by 2024