The Spanish carmaker Cupra has been making cooler versions of Volkswagen’s and Seat’s cars since 2018, but its sporty cars are coming to the U.S. by the end of the decade. Cupra will make its big debut in the U.S. of A with an EV version of the Formentor, a crossover that’s quickly become its most popular vehicle to date, according to Autocar. It would be far more interesting for the Spanish marque to bring over its small EVs, but a Euro-only carmaker crossing the pond is still welcome news.
Cupra was the performance arm of Seat, coming from its motorsport division founded in the mid-1980s, Cupra Racing. The name was appended to sporty Seat models — much like with the Golf GTI, which later became its own model. Cupra, however, became a whole separate brand that would only make hotter hatches and wagons, as well as crossovers and SUVs. Cupra has gotten into the EV game with the compact Born, the Spanish twin of the Volkswagen ID 3.
But Cupra knows that Americans are not amenable to small cars, so it’ll bring the upcoming generation of the Formentor here first, and will follow up with a second EV. Per Autocar:
The next-generation Cupra Formentor will switch to a new electric platform when it arrives around the end of the decade – and will be a key part of Cupra’s expansion into the US.
The coupé-crossover was launched in 2020 as the first car to be designed from the start as a Cupra, with a range of petrol, diesel and plug-in hybrid powertrains.
It’s the Spanish firm’s most popular model, with 120,000 sales in 2023 having marked a 23% year-on-year rise.
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Speaking at Seat SA’s annual media conference, boss Wayne Griffiths confirmed that an electric version of the Mk2 Formentor would arrive “towards the end of the decade” – and would be one of two models Cupra would use to spearhead its American launch.
Griffiths said it “would be the single most important car for our company”, adding that it was likely to use the Volkswagen Group’s forthcoming SSP platform, which will serve as an effective successor to the MEB and PPE platforms currently in use.
Right now, the Formentor is an ICE-powered and hybrid model built on the MQB platform. The crossover is getting a mild redesign soon that’ll give it a facelift and make it look even sportier than it currently does. The current Formentor makes up to 310 horsepower and 295 lb-ft of torque, giving it a 0-60 miles per hour time of 4.9 seconds. It looks more athletic than VW’s crossovers, but it doesn’t look quite as sleek as the Cupra Leon, a meaner-looking VW Golf.
It’s unclear what the second EV that Cupra is bringing stateside will be, but it could turn out to be a whole new SUV. This mysterious SUV would be bigger than the Formentor, and a far cry from the Cupra Born. But, again, chalk that up to the American market’s distaste for small cars. Whatever model it turns out to be, it may end up being made in America at a VW plant, as Autocar reports, citing CEO Wayne Griffiths:
Griffiths added: “[For] one of those models, in my opinion, there’s a good business case it should be built [in the US]. You need a certain volume in the States to be profitable with your project, so if you want to sell there, you have to produce in the region.”
Any US-built Cupra would likely be produced at an existing Volkswagen plant.
Cupra will enter the US market near the end of the decade with those EVs, initially focusing on the east and west coasts and selected Sun Belt states where EV demand was likely to be highest.
I’m still holding out hope for the Cupra States of America. It’s always possible that Cupra could learn — like other U.S. automakers have lately — that there is much consumer appetite for smaller, more affordable EVs like the Cupra Born.
