Cupra. Hot-blooded Spaniard from the German stable
Cupra is a new brand within the VAG Group, under which SEAT (Spain) produces the ‘charged’ versions of its models. The first two models of this brand are the Ateca compact SUV and the unique Cupra Formentor SUV.
The word ‘Cupra’ is derived from the phrase ‘Cup Racing’. The ‘Cupra’ prefix was previously used to denote the most powerful modifications of SEAT cars. The history of ‘charged’ seats began in 1996 with the Ibiza Cupra Hot Hatch, which was equipped with a two-liter 150-horsepower engine, and continued with the powerful Leon Cupra.
In 2018, SEAT officially announced the creation of a separate Cupra brand with its own logo. The company claims that this will give the cars ‘their own soul, their own DNA and their own personality’. From now on the most powerful and fastest Spanish cars will be released under their own name.
It is reported that the Volkswagen Group has planned to implement a major reform for SEAT in the middle of the next decade, after which only its young ‘hot-blooded son’ Cupra will remain of the ‘Spaniard’. It is believed that this information comes from Herbert Diess, the CEO of the VW Group, who spoke on the sidelines of the Frankfurt Auto Show about the transformation of SEAT into an ‘emotional premium brand inspired by the Alfa Romeo’ (as of 2018).
Cupra is an excellent opportunity for the Spanish brand to become more popular, because it will be positioned as ‘more prestigious’, even ‘higher than Volkswagen’. The new brand’s models will gain access to new markets, including North America, which will increase sales and profits.
The new Spanish car brand, Cupra, is ‘an emotional premium brand inspired by the Alfa Romeo’
Moreover, today’s SEAT performance is one of the best in history (as of 2017-2018). However, while appreciating the efforts of the head of the Spanish company, Luca de Meo, Herbert Diess believes that there is still much work to be done in such key European markets as Italy and France. De Meo, in turn, claims that despite the fact that the current brand image repels some people, everything can be fixed with time.
Meanwhile, Cupra has already increased its staff by 50%. In 2020, it moved to a new headquarters and hosted a promotional event in Paris. The roof of the exhibition center with a panoramic view of the Eiffel Tower hosted a specially built race track, along which the Swedish race pilot, Mattias Ekstrom, drove the Ateca SUV, trying to accelerate it to a maximum of 247 km/h.
In 2020, the first electric race car appeared, named the Cupra e-Racer. It has four electric engines that produce 680 hp and 960 Nm! Plus, it is equipped with a liquid-cooled traction battery with a capacity of 65 kW/h. This hatchback can accelerate up to 100 km/h in just 3.2 seconds, while its maximum speed is 270 km/h.
Although there are still not so many Cupra models, in 2019, the company has managed to sell 17,100 cars, which is 70% more than in 2018. Today the brand has 235 outlets worldwide (as of 2020).
