Spanish upstart Cupra is not even a year old in the Australian market, but the brand’s global executives are very satisfied with how the company has been received Down Under already.
Cupra global vice president for sales and marketing, Kai Vogler, told CarExpert he’s “excited” by how well the brand’s products have resonated with Aussie buyers.
“For me, what is really exciting is to see the success of Australia so far; that we have products that resonate very, very well with customers; that we’ve had quite a successful start, even with a new innovative sales model” Mr Vogler said.
“… and that, all the success that we have seen in Europe – new customers, different positioning – so far works very well in Australia.”
“In all regions where we’ve started, we’ve seen success and now it’s even more exciting to ramp it up and bring it to higher levels [in Europe] and also in Australia,” Mr Vogler added.
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Cupra Tavascan, Terramar, UrbanRebel
Building on Mr Vogler’s comments, global director of sales for SEAT and Cupra, Erdem Kizildere, noted the “strategic importance” of the Australian market for the Spanish brand.
“Here, we’ve tried to put together a new brand with an exciting portfolio, with a new sales model. I think so far it has been successful,” Mr Kizildere said.
“But we are still in the early beginnings of our journey here. Every model that we bring, you see the attention [we put on the region], like our global vice president coming here to put the emphasis on the strategic importance of the market.”
“Moving forward, as we continue this journey, we’re going to keep playing out our interests in the market, bringing new cars, bringing our top management here, and showing how we want to progress [in Australia],” Mr Kizildere added.
Cupra’s team has previously indicated it wants to have an annual sales volume of 7000 vehicles in the Australian market by 2025, with a second wave of new models coming mid-decade.
So far in 2023 the brand has seen 808 registrations for the first quarter (January-March), and will likely continue to track upwards with the launch of the Born – over 500 units have been sold with some 700 units already confirmed for production this year.
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