Cupra ICE age nearing its end

The last Cupra model with a petrol engine is expected to launch in Australia in 2025.

That means the local subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group’s youthful Spanish brand, which is a spin-off from SEAT, is on-track to comply with Cupra’s global plan to be all-electric by 2030.

The Cupra brand, which only launched in Australia last July, commences its EV journey locally around March 2023, when the Cupra Born electric hatch starts being delivered to customers.

The next two EVs will be the coupe-style Tavascan SUV due here in 2025 and the production version of the UrbanRebel crossover concept – expected to be called the Raval, which should arrive here in 2026.

The last new Cupra model with an internal combustion engine (ICE), the Terramar plug-in hybrid SUV, will go on sale in Australia in 2025.

“The focus is going to come in our range towards those electrified cars like Tavascan and UrbanRebel,” said Cupra Australia director Ben Wilks.

“We’re quite aligned with the global product cycle.

“One of the things we said would be big when we launched here is we would take what’s available from Europe where it’s available to us in right-hand drive.”

Wilks expressed confidence in Cupra’s EV direction based on feedback from potential Australian customers.

“Electrification is so hot right now, it’s the thing that people are talking about,” Wilks said.

“Every time I talk about the Cupra brand people ask me which electrified cars do we have. It’s going to be wonderful to have the Born on the road.”

Despite the 2030 ICE cut-off, Wilks confirmed Cupra Australia would continue to promote its turbo-petrol and plug-in hybrid models across its model line-up.

Cupra sells the Formentor crossover and Leon in both turbo-petrol and PHEV forms, while the Ateca SUV is only sold in top-spec VZx turbo-petrol form.

“We have been really open about our future [electric] product portfolio coming… and that’s all in our future, but there is still a strong market for our ICE engines,” said Wilks.

“We still have that plan for Formentor, Leon and Ateca.”

While some brands are talking down plug-in hybrids and jumping straight to EV, Wilks says Cupra will take the opposite tack and push its VZe PHEV models harder.

“I don’t see everyone taking that step over plug-in hybrid to EV. There is a big opportunity for plug-in hybrid. A lot of people see the legislation that’s recently passed and there’s obviously advantages to running a plug-in hybrid depending on how they structure their affairs.

“This is a change management that the country is going through broadly and some people are ready to jump into an electric car and some people want the flexibility of a plug-in hybrid.”

Half the first allocation of 98 Formentor and Leon VZe PHEVs available to Australia sold out within hours of going on sale in October. Supply has been limited because of battery production limits.

 “We have had a huge interest in our plug-in hybrids. We would like to see more PHEVs. The demand indicates we could definitely get more so we are certainly pushing for that.”

Wilks played down any concern about the pause in new model launches between the Born and the Tavascan and Terramar.

“I think there is some good opportunity for us in terms of establishing the range and having the awareness of the range [increased] overall,” he said.

“There is some really interesting stuff with special-editions. We haven’t been able to access all the colour and trim packages that are available so there is a chance for us to do that.

“But we are very fortunate because the range was very fresh and quite up to date at launch, so I think we still have a pretty strong interest from there.”  

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