Clears the way for the parent-company to realign.
Spanish automaker Seat has today formally announced the impending formation of a new performance sub-marque dubbed ‘Cupra,’ finalising the logo design for the brand in the same announcement. This move, rumoured for some time, is likely being done to free up flexibility for the parent marque to explore more versatile products.
“Cupra has always been the sportiest expression of Seat. Now the time has come for it to gain its own soul, its own DNA, its own identity, by becoming a new entity. All new Cupra vehicles will feature the new Cupra logo.”
While the ‘Cupra’ name has been reserved for only the very best performance cars from the Spanish brand, the new standalone Cupra marque will be able to offer a wider range of vehicles that will unashamedly cater to more performance-focused drivers, with their cars being entirely bereft of Seat badging.
Volvo has done this with Polestar, and Fiat has done the same with Abarth, and the reasoning behind the Seat-Cupra split is the same: With Cupra spun off to focus on engaging, fun sports cars, Seat can now realign itself to offer more relevant cars for the modern age. Seat, as a member of the Volkswagen Group, has always been regarded as the ‘youthful’ marque in the stable. And while it sufficed for them to offer hotted-up variants as a nod to that youth, the demands of modern youth (in terms of style, and connectivity, particularly) means that Seat has to evolve to keep up.
And the way Polestar has done with the Polestar 1, Cupra becoming a dedicated marque means that it paves the way for the brand to explore the possibility of Cupra-exclusive models in the future. This may be an avenue they want to do in the near future, given that the company recently filed trademarks for names like Bolero, Salsa, and Tango, all names that Seat has used in the past on concept cars.
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