The Cupra Tavascan will be the brand’s first pure electric crossover, and it differs quite a bit from the earlier concept cars.
SEAT’s sporty offshoot revealed the rear and side views of the car, as well as a peek of its bonnet, overnight in a promotional video produced in conjunction with the Spanish singer Rosalia.
The Tavascan is based on the Volkswagen Group’s MEB architecture, so it will share a lot in common with the Volkswagen ID.5 and European Ford Explorer.
It looks to be around the same size as the ID.5, which makes sense given early engineering mules wore bodies taken from the ID.4, the ID.5’s more upright sibling. Other items shared with the Volkswagen pair are its wing mirrors, and lift-up door handles.
Like the ID.5, the Tavascan sacrifices some rear seat headroom and significant amounts of boot space with its swoopy roofline.
The surfacing is smooth, but is punctuated by sharp creases. The tail-light cluster stretches across the entire width of the Tavascan, and includes an illuminated red Cupra logo. The promo video also indicates the front of the car will also feature an illuminated Cupra badge.
Compared to the earlier concept, the production Tavascan has larger lighting units, and toned down styling. The final car also misses out on the concept’s frameless windows and completely hidden handles.
If other MEB vehicles are anything to go by, the Tavascan will have a unique dashboard design, but will feature a small fully digital instrumentation screen, a free-standing landscape infotainment touchscreen, and a capacitive controls instead of traditional physical buttons and dials.
As with other MEB vehicles, the largest battery to offered should be a 77kWh pack, while charging will likely max out at 150kW.
Given Cupra’s sporty positioning, it’s probable the Tavascan will be available with more powerful drivetrain options first, such as the 220kW twin-motor all-wheel drive system from the ID.5 GTX.
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Tavascan concept -
While the ID.4 and ID.5 are produced in Germany, the closely related Tavascan will be made exclusively in Anhui, China, at a joint venture factory with local manufacturer JAC.
The Tavascan will be Cupra’s second all-electric model after the Born, a lightly reworked version of the Volkswagen ID.3 tall hatch.
Although the Tavascan is on the company’s wishlist for Australia, with Cupra’s global CEO Wayne Griffiths statin, “We can’t just come [to Australia] with the Cupra Formentor, we need to have the Cupra Electric cars – the Cupra Born, the Cupra Tavascan, and the Cupra Urban Rebel – ready for Australia”.
