Spanish brand’s dark turn points to future funster

REBELLION continues to brew with Cupra – the latest concept being described as a straight-out provocation.

The Spanish car making element of the Volkswagen Group has revealed more information about a new virtual study that’s viewed as being a tease for an eventual production electric sports car.

Shown in digital form at the reveal of the new electric Tavascan coupe-SUV, Cupra says it is ready to push boundaries after its strong growth in the five years since it split from sibling brand SEAT.

More than 300,000 Cupra models have been sold since its launch in 2018, and half of those were sold in 2022 alone.

The Batmobile-esque Dark Rebel currently just exists in the digital world, but Cupra wants it to become reality as it pushes for sportier models.

It’s described by Cupra’s chief executive officer Wayne Griffiths as a “dream”. Could it be a reality? To that, the Briton says: “We make dreams come true, so you best be ready.

“After five years of building the brand Cupra in a nowadays world, it is time to think about the next step. The Cupra Dark Rebel is the ultimate interpretation of our vision.”

The styling study has many traditional sports car design features, including a long nose and a big rear spoiler, and also delivers many of the core design features seen on the new NZ-bound Tavascan performance SUV. These include Tavascan’s three-light signature along with a ‘centre spine’ that connects the front and the rear.

Cupra says the Dark Rebel’s primary purpose is to promote its move into the ‘metaverse’. If you didn’t already know, that’s a digital world through which the brand hopes to connect with younger customers.

The Dark Rebel is immediately identifiable as a sporty thing, but the whole car looks to be one solid mass.

Elements such as the lights are designed to ‘emerge from the body’.Extreme futurism continues within the cabin. Occupants sit in bucket seats, the driver behind a "progressive gamifying steering wheel" designed to look a bit like a PlayStation controller, but with holographic displays that appear to be floating on the steering column.

Yet that isn't the real technological showcase. Dark Rebel is here for users to create their own futuristic avatar, then explore the Cupra offering. The idea is that customers can configure their own Dark Rebel, sitting the car in one of three different virtual environments.

The Exponential Square is said to be “inspired by natural elements... and raw textures and earthy colours can be experienced and challenged by the user,” while the Exponential Cube is inspired by a vision of racing in the future, with neon-like colours and “parametric geometries”. Finally, the Exponential Infinite is intended to be “dream-like” and “ethereal”.

Cupra has a virtual configurator which the the public can access. That input will inform the final design of a Dark Rebel show car, with Cupra integrating some of the most popular design features.

Cupra’s currently offering fossil-fuelled product, with the Ateca, the Leon and its own first product, the Formentor.

Its first electric car, the Born, a five-door hatch, is limbering up for NZ sale, a roadshow from next month being a precursor to an on-sale from September.

Tavascan is set to land at the end of 2024. Before that we will also have the Terramar, another sports utility with a plug-in hybrid drivetrain. In 2025 the Urban Revel concept car will enter production as a more affordable EV, based off the Volkswagen ID.2.