Cupra quartet for 2021 release

Three all-new cars are set to land mid-year, plus an updated Ateca arriving next month.

The Cupra family of 2021

PRICING and arrival timing for the next crop of cars from Cupra, the performance arm of Volkswagen Group’s Spanish brand element, SEAT, has been announced. 

An update of the Ateca sports utility that has been flying the flag for Cupra for more than a year will be a pathfinder for the main group, with expectation of release next month. 

Three all-new models – the Formentor, the Leon hatch and Leon Sportstourer – are schedule to arrive in June, though that timing is dependent on ongoing effects of the coronavirus on car making and shipping.  

When notifying intention for Cupra today, local brand boss James Yates also reminded that Germany has just gone into a hard lockdown, not expected to lift until early January.

As is, Covid-19 has already caused the distributor, part of Giltrap Group, to delay these announcements for a marque that is intended become the lead product type for private buyers while SEAT product will be presented more toward fleet and rental use.

Whatever challenges lay ahead, thanks to the imprint made by the Ateca in its current form, Cupra is resonating with New Zealanders at a level that leaves Yates confident is a brand that will achieve more focus once the family enlarges. 

“If these three new models replicate the Cupra Ateca’s success, we’ll be seeing a lot of car buyers in New Zealand re-thinking their badge allegiances.” 

Formentor is expected to be the volume and image leader

A striking sports utility coupe, Formentor is the first Cupra car designed exclusively for that make – the others being re-engineered and style editions of VW cars – and is expected to become the volume king.

It will stand to offer a point of difference on more than just the impressive looks: By late next year there’ll be a hybrid version with front-wheel drive that uses a 1.4-litre petrol engine and an electric motor to produce 150kW.

In June, however, the focus is on two all-wheel-drive (4Drive in Cupra-speak) models with orthodox petrol drivetrains, in 140kW and 228kW formats, for $54,900 and $68,900 respectively, precluding on-roads. No pricing has been set for the e-Hybrid yet.

The Formentor is based on VW Group’s MQB Evo platform. Yates proposes that styling resembles that of a rugged all-terrain vehicle, but the car’s exterior design features bring a lighter contrast to the vehicle’s silhouette. A striking ingredient of the interior is a panoramic 12-inch floating infotainment screen.

The Formentor has recently entered production for European markets, and it is made at the brand’s facilities in Martorell, on the outskirts of Barcelona.

Yates also believes the Leon models – $59,900 in hatch and $6000 more as a Sportstourer - might also deliver decent penetration, pointing out that sporty station wagons are rare fare. The Sportstourer has no direct equal among other Group brand represented here.

“New Zealand’s growing affection for SUV’s, means there is a distinct shortage of exciting station-wagon models available … those priced well under $100,000 any way.”

He says this model’s 228kW 4Drive setup will catapult the car safely from standstill to 100 kmh in less than five seconds and cites that, as result of being more hunkered than an SUV, it will offer a more dynamic driving experience.

The Leon comes with Dynamic Chassis Control (DCC) with four different pre-sets (Comfort, Normal, Sport and CUPRA) and the Sportstourer’s 620 litre cargo space is considerably larger than those offered by the Ateca (485 litres) and the Formentor (420 litres).

Meantime, the updated Ateca can be identified by styling revisions inside and out. The $66,900 model retains the current car’s 221kW/400Nm turbocharged four-cylinder 2.0-litre petrol and seven-speed auto. It will achieve 100kmh in 4.9s from a standing start. 

Meantime, Cupra’s first electric car, the el-Born, seems still likely to release here in 2022. Based on the same underpinnings as Volkswagen’s ID.3 hatchback and ID.4 SUV, the model has an official range of 498km on the WLTP test cycle.

NZ-bound el-Born now a Cupra

Fizzed-up fun is a core element of this incoming Spanish flier, revealed today in its production-bound format.

el-born again … an electric hot hatch

SOMETHING you’ve been thinking about has finally been realised – an electric hot hatch.

That, at least, is the premise proposed by Cupra, the performance arm of Volkswagen Group’s Spanish brand element, SEAT, in respect to the el-Born. 

 The base elements of a car that is already booked for New Zealand introduction – with hope of a 2022 introduction - are familiar enough to anyone who understands the grand VW plan.

This car, the Q4 e-tron Audi unveiled yesterday, the Skoda Enyaq and the VW ID – also all confirmed for Kiwi use - are all one and the same in terms of their platforms and all-electric hardware.

However, each brand has allowance to tailor their offers to mirror their own respective temperaments.

That’s an opportunity Cupra has taken full advantage of – to the point where its car has a different badge in the production form it has unveiled overnight that it wore when the preceding concept was unveiled at last year’s Geneva Motor show. Then it was a SEAT.

In joining the Cupra clan, the car is announcing itself as something with more flair and fervour than might be expected to arrive with other family brands. Because Cupra is emphatically all about sportiness. In this instance, they’re talking 0-50kmh in 2.9 seconds. 

el-born is designed for VW Group’s connected car systems.

Does that sound positive enough? If the el-Born wins over hot hatch fans, then assuredly VW Group will pump out others of similar flavour. An ID3 GTi, perhaps? 

Whatever the course of action, el-Born is … well … the first born. And, like the other involvers in the VW electric push, it’s expected to resonate strongly in this country.

As things stand, Cupra is already pulling more Kiwi attention than might be imagined. 

Yes, the SEAT/Cupra dealership presence is small, but it’s growing quietly and the models in the performance sub-set are doing so well that the most popular at the moment, the Ateca, has been subject to a waiting list.

This interest has determined a fine-tuning of the brand development strategy created by the Giltrap Group, which holds distribution rights. Cupra will become the lead marque for private buyers while SEAT product will be presented more toward fleet and rental use.

“Cupra really is resonating with New Zealanders,” attests national brand boss James Yates.

“The Cupra brand is certainly one we will be focussing on going forward.” 

“SEAT will not disappear. We’re saying we will focus on slightly different markets for each – there are some models that are quite popular, such as the Arona, which we cannot get in a Cupra version and they will definitely continue on. 

“But from a positioning point of view and an experience point of view, Cupra will become the main focus, but not the sole focus.”

Formentor, above, will be at the forefront of the Cupra product portfolio next year though the updated Ateca, below, also has a key ongoing role.

Cupra’s status will lift all the more when it’s first true standalone model, the striking Formentor sports uility coupe, arrives next year. It will stand to offer a point of difference on more than just the impressive looks: There’s a hybrid version with front-wheel drive that uses a 1.4-litre petrol engine and an electric motor to produce 182kW, or you can go the whole hog and pick a 231kW four-wheel-drive car instead.

Also joining the Cupra stable next year is the new Leon small hatch. And prior to either of those, likely for release around December, is the facelifted Ateca.

As for el-Born? Yates has become all the more fizzed as result of a visit to Barcelona in February, when he was accompanied by Group principal Richard Giltrap. Yates says the impact from that expedition was powerful and reinforced why the investment in having SEAT/Cupra in this market will reap reward. And why el-Born will be so crucial to that.

“We’re very excited about that wee model and having it as a Cupra.”

There’s one hurdle yet to be tackled. VW Group’s intent is to use its EV models as pathfinders for an effort to digitise more of the car-driving experience for its customers by making it easier for them to access online productivity tools, music streaming services, and travel information on the go. 

VW’s cloud environment is built on Microsoft Azure, and also makes use of the software giant’s IoT Edge platform. Its creation is the result of a partnership struck between the two firms in October 2018.

All well and good … save that the rollout has been slower than expected, to the point where the VW ID cars that were supposed to debut the set-up are initially being delivered, for now just in Europe, without the requisite software.

That’s not desirable for NZ; the plan here is for all product to be ‘connected’ from the get-go. The factory is already saying it won’t release product until that is achieved. There’s no target date for that, Yates explains.

But he’s characteristically optimistic that introduction in 2022, roughly a year after it goes in Europe, is still a potential.

The styling remains very close to that of the Geneva design study, with the same short bonnet, fared-in radiator grille, large front quarter light windows and tailgate spoiler. The lowered ride-height, 20-inch alloy wheels, aggressive front and rear bumpers, wider side skirts and a larger rear spoiler are cues to a performance mettle also cemented by it taking the largest battery unit currently available in any of the Volkswagen Group’s electric vehicles.

The electric motor feeding from the 82kWh unit drives the rear wheels. The only performance figure Cupra has so far given out is for that 0-50kmh blip, but a year ago SEAT reckoned a 0–100kmh time of 7.5 seconds was the go.

The big battery also enhances range – Cupra is saying their car will achieve the same 500km optimal as the Q4 e-tron. The car will also provision with a 62kWh battery pack, offering a WLTP range of up to 420km. 

The platform offers support for rapid charging, which Cupra says will allow 251km of range to be added in just 30 minutes. Using a 100kW fast charger, the hatchback will also recover an 80 percent charge in as little as 47 minutes.

Cupra’s information pack talks of a modern and functional cabin, with a digital instrument binnacle, a floating 10-inch infotainment screen and touch-sensitive controls for the car’s heating and ventilation system. Buyers will also get a pair of bucket seats and a new sports steering wheel. Features include an Augmented Reality head-up display, smartphone connectivity via the car’s infotainment system and an integrated heat-pump system that does not draw energy from the car’s battery pack to warm the cabin, hence preserving the vehicle’s range.