Cupra is coming!

OFF-SHOOT OF THE SEAT BRAND IS HEADED FOR OZ PROMISING AUDI S MODEL PERFORMANCE FOR VW MONEY. SO WHAT ARE ITS CHANCES?

- JOHN CAREY

CUPRA’S copper-coloured badge packs subtle significance that’s worth spelling out. While copper isn’t in the same league as the precious metals, it’s still valuable, useful stuff. It’s up there on the podium – bronze is mainly copper – but below gold and silver.

This symbolises Cupra’s position in the market, between traditional premium brands and the mass-production mainstream, explains a senior brand executive.

The Cupra name also echoes copper’s chemical symbol, Cu, derived from its Latin name of cuprum. No matter that Cupra, pronounced cooprah, is actually a compression of Cup Racing, the designation applied to hot roadgoing models from the Volkswagen Group-owned Spanish brand Seat since the 1990s. Cupra grew out of Seat Sport, the company’s competition and performance car division, and continues to be active in racing.

Copper is highly conductive, and electrification is a big part of Cupra’s present and future. Later this year it will launch the Born, its first pure EV, in Europe. Basically a restyled VW ID.3, it’ll be produced in Germany. It’ll be followed in 2024 by the designed-in Barcelona Tavascan, another EV also based on VW Group’s MEB platform. In the meantime, plug-in hybrids loom large in Cupra’s model mix.

Almost everything Cupra currently has in production will head to Australia for its planned second-quarter 2022 launch; the Leon hatch, Ateca small SUV and the Formentor compact crossover. The only thing missing, compared to Europe, is the long-wheelbase wagon version of the Leon.