… of course it is.
The newly-divorced performance marque Cupra, born from VW-owned Spanish marque Seat (pronounced ‘say-at’) has finalised its plans moving forward, separating itself a little bit more from the company that birthed it. While Cupra’s first car has already been revealed as a revised, driver-focused version of the Ateca, the brand wants a standalone car to perhaps cement its separation from Seat and establish the Cupra brand as a player in the segment all on its own.
And it intends to do that with the trendiest of present-day automotive trends: A coupe-SUV.
These moves have of course been very carefully calculated, as the management at Cupra knew that going it alone with its own car from Day 1 might have been a bit risky for the nascent marque. People had long been accustomed to seeing ‘Cupra’ as a fixture on hot Seats, so putting the Cupra badge on an Ateca was likely the safest way of introducing the ‘new’ brand.
“At the start of a brand, you need to go in stages. When we decided to start Cupra, you could wait until you have a car born 100% as a Cupra, or you can start the brand in steps. This is what we have done with the Cupra Ateca. You will see the first car that was 100% designed as a Cupra next year.” — Alejandro Mesonero-Romanos, Chief Designer, Seat
Though Mesonero-Romanos didn’t specifically say to Autocar that the ‘100% Cupra’ would be a coupe-SUV, Cupra did tease a sleek-roofed crossover-type vehicle at the launch of the Ateca. They also went on to say that such a model would slot in comfortably into Cupra’s ‘lifestyle performance’ niche.
“[The new model] has been thought from the beginning with the DNA of Cupra. That doesn’t mean Cupra Ateca is not; But for my team and the engineers, the next car was born with 100% Cupra philosophy. It’s a Cupra. It will have its own identity.” — Alejandro Mesonero-Romanos, Chief Designer, Seat
While the coupe-SUV will begin its life as a Cupra-only model, the design boss said that there “could be” a Seat version of the car later in its life. But that said, he also clarified that the model’s focus “is on developing it as a Cupra,” so there’s a possibility that it might not be made as a Seat at all.
Stay tuned to CarShowroom as we bring you more updates as they come.
