The Cupra Leon and Formentor nameplates will continue on their electric successors, even as the Ateca is phased out.
“Obviously the Cupra Formentor was our first fully fledged Cupra with 100 per cent DNA,” said Cupra CEO Wayne Griffiths.
“And in the future when we electrify the Formentor, the electric Formentor will be called the Formentor.
“The Cupra Leon in the future, the electric Cupra Leon, would also be called Leon as well. And certainly the successor cars of the Tavascan, and the Terramar.”
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Cupra Leon
Mr Griffiths confirmed the company is still discussing whether to put the Formentor EV on the MEB platform underpinning the Born, or to use the Volkswagen Group’s upcoming SSP architecture.
“So the jury’s still out on that one. There are pros and cons,” said Mr Griffiths.
“Obviously MEB is earlier. But SSP has a longer run, is a newer platform and can perhaps be more competitive.”
He noted a decision hasn’t been made yet as Cupra still needs to make a decision on an entry into the US market, something it is actively investigating and for which it has already been doing market research.
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Cupra Formentor
Cupra has already confirmed it plans to go EV-only by 2030, with its last combustion-powered vehicle to be the Terramar due in 2024.
The SSP architecture isn’t expected to launch until 2028. The Formentor is still relatively fresh, having entered production in 2020 and with a facelift having been teased for 2024.
The EV could therefore be either one of the last vehicles introduced on MEB, or one of the first on SSP.
The current Formentor is Cupra’s biggest seller, both in Australia and globally, accounting for almost two-thirds of the brand’s sales in 2022.
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Cupra Born
As for the Leon, considering the existing Born EV is positioned as a small, sporty hatchback and the production version of the UrbanRebel is expected to also be pitched as a hot hatch, albeit a smaller one, it’s unclear how its electric successor would be positioned within the line-up.
It’s also unclear what platform it would sit on. The Born uses the MEB platform and the production UrbanRebel will use the new MEB Entry/21 platform Cupra is developing for the Volkswagen Group.
Cupra in Australia currently prices its hot Leon VZx and its plug-in hybrid VZe counterpart in line with the Born, which is approximately the same length (4398mm for the Leon, 4322mm for the Born).
Like the Formentor, the current Leon entered production in 2020.
MORE: Everything Cupra Leon
MORE: Everything Cupra Formentor
