Cupra “not afraid to fail” with “risky” Leon Sportstourer wagon

The 2025 Cupra Leon Sportstourer will arrive this October as a long-bodied, low-slung performance alternative to small SUVs.

By industry norms it’s a risky move since wagons don’t sell in healthy volumes these days, but Cupra says the risks of bringing a wagon to market are well within its comfort zone.

“We go our own way that’s different to the other [Volkswagen] Group brands – we can do some things that are a little bit different,” Cupra Australia product boss Jeff Shafer told carsales.

The Leon Sportstourer will land in October initially as a high-performance plug-in hybrid (VZe) offering before a flagship turbo-petrol VZx is added later.

While the regular Leon hatchback – a facelifted version of which will arrive at the same time – will have a two-powertrain lineup comprising an entry-grade 110kW Leon S mild hybrid and the high-spec 221kW VZx, the Leon Sportstourer VZe will feature a 200kW plug-in hybrid (PHEV) powertrain that marries a 1.5-litre turbo-petrol engine with a singular e-motor, the latter sustained by a 19.7kWh battery that can provide about 100km of combustion-free travel.

The VZx meantime will up the ante to 245kW/400Nm, all-wheel drive and a sub-five-second 0-100km/h sprint time.

Punters who miss the mechanically-related VW Golf R wagon will likely be licking their lips for that one, but an exact timeline is yet to be officially announced.

When the Sportstourer VZe arrives in October, it will exist in a niche within a niche as the only plug-in hybrid in the small wagon sub-segment.

That could either be a handicap or a huge selling point, considering the swelling appetite for hybrids of all kinds, but according to Shafer, Cupra isn’t afraid of being in obscure pigeonholes.

“The freedom that Cupra offers is we don’t have to chase volume,” he said.

“We can put a model into the market that’s pretty modest volume by the standards of bigger players, but which we think makes sense for us.

“I’m a huge fan of wagons, I think there’s a core of people in Australia that love a wagon, that are not swayed by SUVs, and I think we can speak to them with the [Leon Sportstourer] plug-in hybrid and petrol versions.”

Cupra’s embrace of wagons is at odds with that of corporate cousin Volkswagen, which up until two years ago, was selling long-roofed versions of the Golf, Passat and Arteon in Australian showrooms before pulling the pin due to slow sales and to free-up room for its growing EV portfolio.

Cupra also takes a different tack with its Terramar midsize SUV; a PHEV version of that car is coming later this year whereas VW Australia is holding off from adding a Tiguan PHEV to its ranks, despite one being available overseas.

“It’s about taking risks, we like to say that we go out for the win, so rather than play it safe let’s take a risk,” Shafer said.

“Maybe we’ll fail, but maybe we’ll have a great success… you can’t be afraid to fail if you want to win.”

Is Cupra winning yet? The brand is still young, having only launched into Australia in 2022; four years after it was split out from its parent brand SEAT.

Since then, it’s been a minor player – it’s expecting to sell its 10,000th car in Australia by the end of this year; a modest figure considering the three-year run-up.

It’s only sold 1754 vehicles so far this year, although its sales are expected to accelerate for the remainder of 2025 as deliveries of the Terramar ramp up.

Yet, there’s method to Cupra’s free-wheeling approach in Australia.

The brand still aims to take on the US market, and the lessons it learns here will inform its strategy in the ‘States.

“There’s no doubt that Australia is a tough market,” Shafer said.

“There’s a lot of competition, and rather than that being a reason not to be here, that’s why we’re here, because we want to prove ourselves in that challenging market. “If we do that here, we can take Cupra to other markets that might be a much bigger investment - but certainly no harder than Australia in terms of the competition.”

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