With new models, Cupra aims for big revenue boost

MARTORELL, Spain — Cupra, Seat’s high-performance subbrand, is counting on the new Leon and Formentor models to help it reach 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) in revenue, Cupra CEO Wayne Griffiths said, an increase of more than 50 percent from 2019’s total of 650 million euros. 

Griffiths, who is also Seat's head of sales and marketing, Volkswagen Group's Spanish brand, said Cupra was aiming to reach the revenue target “in a very short time.”

Griffiths spoke at the introduction of the Cupra Leon at the brand's new headquarters in Martorell, near Barcelona, where Seat’s Spanish factory is located. Seat versions of the new Leon were first shown in January. 

The Cupra Leon will be available with a plug-in hybrid powertrain to give it a 60-km (37-mile) range propelled by electric power alone. It will go on sale in Europe in the fourth quarter of 2020.

The five-door hatchback will debut with a 296-hp gasoline engine, followed shortly by a 242-hp version and the plug-in hybrid version. The Sportstourer station wagon will debut with a 305-hp gasoline engine with four-wheel drive, followed by the plug-in hybrid, and a 242-hp version in early 2021.

Cupra did not announce prices for the new Leon.

Two racing models were also unveiled in Martorell: the Cupra Leon Competition, which will take part in the TCR championship; and the final version of the Cupra e-Racer, whose concept was shown at the Geneva auto show in 2018. Cupra confirmed it will take part in the Pure ETCR electric car championship, which will start in 2021 after a series of exhibitions this year.

Cupra became a stand-alone brand in 2018 under former Seat CEO Luca de Meo. Previously the Cupra name was used on performance versions of Seat models.

Last year, Cupra sold 24,700 cars, mostly in Europe, an increase of 72 percent from 2018.

The top seller was the Leon compact car, with around 15,000 sales, followed by the Ateca compact SUV, with around 10,000 sales. Cupra’s biggest market in 2019 was Germany, with 10,000 sales, Griffiths said; followed by the UK, Spain, Switzerland, France and Austria.

The most important Cupra debut this year will be the Formentor compact crossover, whose production version will be shown at the Geneva auto show on March 3.

The Formentor was shown in concept form at the 2019 Geneva show. It is the first model designed specifically for the Cupra brand and is expected to reach the market in the second half of this year.

Griffiths said he is confident there will be enough customers for the Formentor and the Ateca, even though both are similar sized SUVs, because of growth in the compact SUV and crossover market.

The Formentor is a coupe-styled crossover, while the Ateca is a more-upright SUV.

Sales in the compact SUV and crossover segment rose 8 percent in Europe in 2019 to 2.1 million vehicles, according to figures from JATO Dynamics. The compact car segment was down by 4.5 percent, to 2.16 million sales.


The Formentor will also be available as a plug-in hybrid, which Griffiths said will probably be the most important powertrain for Cupra, at least in the medium term, because it will allow the brand to meet emissions targets and achieve high performance.

He gave the example of a four-wheel-drive system with a pure electric drive at the rear and combustion-engine drive at the front, a combination that leads to “incredible performance, which is what Cupra is about,” he said.