In case you missed it, Spanish automaker SEAT had previously detailed its plans to create a spin-off brand called Cupra, a moniker reserved for its faster, sportier variants. Naturally, the cars that would spawn under this new banner would also embody this more aggressive, driving-oriented philosophy.
Interestingly, one of the standalone model to emerge from the newly formed brand might be an EV, and a high-riding SUV-esque one at that - at least, according to the latest concept car they’re teasing ahead of next week’s Frankfurt Motor Show.
Given this timeline, this electric concept model should emerge as a more production-ready iteration as a sophomore solo effort following the Formentor, another performance-SUV (albeit a hybrid), due to make its market premiere in 2020.
Dubbed the Tavascan, its name is derived from a ski resort village located in Catalonia’s Pyrenees, near its border with France. Oddly, though it seems compact and tightly packaged, Cupra themselves classify the concept as a ‘large SUV coupe’.
It certainly doesn’t resemble anything like a traditional SEAT or any of the cars from its parent company Volkswagen, although beneath the sleek and snarling dark grey body lies VW’s modular MEB electric-specific platform.
This translates to a bank of lithium ion batteries neatly and efficiently packaged in the Tavascan’s floor. Energy capacity is said to be a respectable but unremarkable 77kWh, which can be distributed depending on situational needs across two electric motors.
Total output, given the propensity for full EVs to boast of such things, is a rather modest 225kW. However, that could be a deliberate move in order to maximise range, which stands at a claimed 450km based on the WLTP test cycle. Acceleration is equally decent, if unspectacular, needing 6.5 seconds to reach 100km/h.
Inside, the Tavascan better showcases its futuristic pretensions with a properly high-tech cabin that’s almost void of mechanical interfaces save for the pedals and steering wheel. All vehicular information is conveyed through the 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster or slightly larger 13-inch articulating infotainment display.
Cupra, who predicts a 15 percent growth in electric SUV coupes, also plans to launch two more new PHEV model to flesh out its line-up over the next year to accompany the aforementioned Forementor, meaning the Tavascan will, assuming it reaches production, have a few mates to keep it company upon arrival.
