Cupra reveals line-up for Australian launch

The Volkswagen Group’s Cupra performance brand will begin its charge into the Australian market with nine model variants which include a hot-hatch, speedy SUVs and plug-in hybrids.

Cupra Australia this week confirmed its mid-2022 launch line-up will comprise the Leon hatchback, Ateca compact SUV and Formentor coupe-style crossover.

The initial models will cover pricing territory ranging from just over $40,000 to a touch more than $60,000 when they start arriving in the second quarter on next year.

The Leon hatch will be the most affordable Cupra model and the Formentor adopts the status of halo vehicle. A plug-in hybrid version of the Formentor is expected to be the most expensive car in the launch line-up.

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Cupra Leon

VW Group’s fledgling performance-oriented brand, launched only three years ago in Europe, is aiming to cater to an area of the market where the German umbrella group has little presence. It is expecting minimal cannibalisation of VW or Skoda sports models.

“We want to target the 92 per cent [of customers] not buying VW products,” said Cupra Australia’s brand director, Ben Wilks.

“That means premium Euro brands, as well as the more interesting Asian brands – particularly the performance-focused ones.

“That’s where we can get a lot of our volume. Even today, we don’t see a lot of crossover between Skoda and Volkswagen, so [sales cannibalisation is] not something that’s a big concern for us.

“This is a great opportunity for the Cupra brand to find a nice space where Skoda, Volkswagen and even Audi aren’t competing – offering customers something they can’t currently get from other VW Group brands.

“We won’t be a brand for everyone; we just need to be loved by some.”

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Cupra Formentor

One Cupra difference, the company stresses, is a more expressive design compared with the traditionally more restrained styling of Audi, Skoda and Volkswagen models.

The company uses copper as a signature colour for its logo as well as exterior/interior trim elements and even wheels for certain variants.

Electrification will be another Cupra USP among its stablemates. It will be the first mainstream VW brand to offer plug-in hybrid models, with the Leon hatch and Formentor SUV ranges both including e-Hybrid petrol-electric variants. (VW is also set to introduce the Touareg R plug-in hybrid SUV sometime in 2022, though this will cost about $140,000.)

Wilks says Cupra’s story is ultimately about electrification going forward, and positive recent developments in Australia have both helped and encouraged Cupra to confirm the PHEV models for a 2022 launch.

VW Group CEO Herbert Diess has stated that Cupra could become a full EV brand in the future.

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Cupra Ateca

These include the Government committing to an improvement of the country’s poor fuel quality, while New South Wales has recently announced upcoming incentives for buyers of pure electric vehicles.

Cupra Australia says this has increased the potential for the brand’s first all-electric model, the recently unveiled Born, to eventually join the range. A Cupra Tavascan electric SUV is also launching overseas in 2024.

From launch, the VW Group’s 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder will dominate, powering most variants in various states of tune.

The Leon and Formentor will each start with a 140kW/320Nm model, with the hatchback using a front-wheel-drive layout compared with the SUV’s all-wheel drive.

A 180kW variant, featuring the Golf GTI engine, will sit in the middle of each range. The engine from the Golf R features in the fastest versions of the Leon and Formentor, with 221kW and 228kW, respectively.

The all-wheel-drive Leon Sportstourer wagon isn't coming initially, though hasn't been ruled out for the future here.

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Cupra Leon

The Ateca, which is fractionally shorter than the other models, will be offered as a single variant featuring the 221kW turbo four-cylinder engine combined with all-wheel drive.

All models pair engines with a dual-clutch auto.

The fastest Cupra models at launch will be the 228kW Formentor and 221kW Ateca, which are both all-wheel drive and share a claimed 0-100km/h acceleration time of 4.9 seconds.

Next quickest is the 221kW Leon at 5.7 seconds – with the front-wheel-drive, 180kW petrol and e-Hybrid Leons quoted at 6.4 and 6.7 seconds respectively.

Cupra says the 140kW AWD Formentor reaches 100km/h from standstill in 7.1 seconds, with the 180kW front-drive e-Hybrid variant seven-tenths slower (7.8 seconds).

Cupra’s fastest vehicle globally is the Formentor VZ5, powered by the 2.5-litre turbo five-cylinder engine from Audi’s RS3 and RSQ3 models and capable of 0-100km/h in a claimed 4.2 seconds. As a left-hand-drive production model only, the VZ5 is not available for the Australian market.

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Cupra Formentor e-Hybrid

The e-Hybrid plug-in models offer an electric driving range of up to 55km via their 85kW electric motor, which is paired with a 1.4-litre turbo petrol engine.

Cupra Australia says it will announce more details about pricing and specification closer to the brand’s launch in the second quarter of 2022. It is expected to follow the brand’s hierarchical approach to trim grades overseas, including New Zealand, where VZ1 denotes an entry-level variant, VZ2 is a mid-range model and VZ3 is the at the top.

The VZ trim grades can simply differentiate between drivetrains in a model range, though Cupra Australia says there will be some minor feature differences between variants. This can include convenience features, as well as upgrades in upholstery and wheels.

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Cupra Formentor

Cupra vehicles will be sold both online and via an agency set-up which promises transparent pricing nationally. Branded boutique outlets similar to the approach taken by Hyundai’s Genesis luxury brand are planned, as well as “pop-up sales points and outlets in existing high-profile retail environments”.

As with VW and Skoda products, Cupra vehicles will be backed by a five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty. Servicing will be available at selected VW Group dealerships.

Cupra became a performance-focused subsidiary of the VW Group’s Spanish brand Seat in 2018. The Cupra name had previously been applied to its sportiest models since 1996, with the likes of the Ibiza Cupra and Leon Cupra.

It would be the equivalent of Volkswagen creating a separate R division and follows similar moves by Fiat (with Abarth) and Volvo (with Polestar).

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Cupra Formentor

Cupra has sold 28,800 vehicles in the UK and Europe up to May 2021, already eclipsing the 27,400 total units the brand sold in 2020. That figure was also an 11 per increase on 2019.

The Cupra Formentor is by far the brand’s most popular model, outselling both the Leon and Ateca by about four to one.

The brand’s biggest markets are its home country of Spain, Germany and the UK. Cupra has been on sale in New Zealand since 2019.

Volkswagen Group Australia has reiterated it has no intention of bringing the Seat brand back to the country where it was last sold between 1995 and 1999. The company believes its Skoda brand already sufficiently covers the market with a range typically priced below equivalent VW models.