Electric Cupra large SUV confirmed for Australia

Cupra has confirmed the all-new battery-electric large SUV currently under development to spearhead the Spanish brand’s launch in North America will also be offered globally – including in Australia.

Speaking to local media at a digital roundtable last week, Cupra president and CEO Wayne Griffiths said that while the US was a key market for the still-secret electric family SUV, the VW-owned performance brand would offer it worldwide to ensure the program was viable.

“We would need global volume,” he said.

“The bigger SUV we’re looking at for the US will also be sold globally – in Europe and Australia.”

Australia is only a small market for the fledgling Cupra brand, but the company sees strong growth potential here as owners favour performance models and SUVs.

Little is known about the flagship SUV at this stage, but it will be based on Volkswagen Group underpinnings and could share production facilities with VW’s forthcoming Scout off-road brand.

It will, however, be a sporty, road-oriented crossover rather than a traditional off-road-capable wagon.

“I don’t think it’s going to have seven seats but it’s going to be big, and it is big,” said Griffiths.

“We have the design models already ready – it’s a very impressive car in terms of design.

“Not a classic SUV – a crossover, sportier in line with what Cupra’s all about.

“It’s pretty big for Europe and I think it’s big enough for the US.”

The platform underpinning the new Cupra SUV remains the subject of speculation. It could be the Volkswagen Group’s inbound Scalable Systems Platform (SSP) – a toughened-up version of which is slated for the Scout SUV and ute – or the latest PPE architecture, as found under the Porsche Macan EV and Audi Q6 e-tron.

VW has also extended the lifespan of the established MEB platform, which could be employed by Cupra to keep costs down.

An upcoming Skoda three-row large SUV previewed by the 2022 Vision 7S concept is shaping up to be a sister model to the Cupra model, launching in the next couple of years.

The inbound Cupra Terramar and Tavascan SUVs provide an indication as to what the full-size model could look like, with the sleek front-end and swooping roofline set to pitch it directly against the Tesla Model X.

According to Skoda, the Vision 7S will measure close to 4900mm long and be capable of covering more than 600km on a single charge of its 89kWh battery, which can be replenished at up to 200kW using a DC fast-charger.

We’d expect a Cupra version to beat that projected figure, thanks to its sleeker design and lighter kerb weight stemming from its two-row layout.

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