Cupra targets 70,000 sales for China-built Tavascan electric SUV

Cupra aims to sell 70,000 units a year worldwide of the Tavascan coupe-styled midsize SUV, the Volkswagen Group brand’s second full-electric model.

The Tavascan, which will be built in China and exported to Europe, is underpinned by VW Group’s MEB full-electric platform and is a sibling model to the VW ID5 and Skoda Enyaq Coupe iV. It is Cupra's second model based on MEB after the Born hatchback.

The production version of the Tavascan was shown at an event in Berlin on Friday; the vehicle was first shown as a concept at the 2019 Frankfurt auto show.

It will be built in a VW Group’s joint venture factory in Anhui, China. It will be the first vehicle produced there. 

The Tavascan is due to go on sale in Europe in the first half of 2024, with first deliveries after the summer. Right-hand drive markets will follow slightly later.

Competitors are expected to include a mix of mainstream and premium models, including the ID5, the Tesla Model Y, the Ford Mustang Mach-E and the Audi Q4 e-tron.

Cupra’s target is to sell 70,000 units in a full year, Cupra and Seat CEO Wayne Griffiths said at the event. The brand sold about 31,000 compact Born EVs last year, when overall sales were up 93 percent to 152,900. The Formentor compact SUV was the best-selling model, with about 98,000 sales.

The midsize SUV segments have been boosted by the arrival of full-electric models such as the VW ID4 and ID5, Skoda Enyaq iV, Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kia EV6, and the Mustang Mach-E (see chart, below). The mainstream midsize/large segment was up 5.5 percent in 2022, according to figures from Dataforce; the premium midsize SUV segment was up 20.5 percent. 

Griffiths said that a final price for the Tavascan had not yet been decided, citing volatility in the EV market, but he said it would be “competitively" priced to achieve Cupra’s volume target.

Tesla has repeatedly cut prices for its Model Y in Europe, where it can be bought for about 45,000 euros. Those cuts help lift the Model Y to become Europe’s best-selling vehicle overall in the first quarter.

Synergies with the VW Group in China will help the Tavascan compete on price, he said, with a final figure that will be “somewhere between the mass and premium segments" of the market, or between VW and Audi.

"The Anhui factory was the plant with the right capacity and technology at the time of production planning," VW said in a statement Friday, adding it has no plans to produce other vehicles in China for export. 

The Tavascan will be available in two versions with different power outputs: the 210 kW (282 hp) Endurance and 250 kW (335 hp) VZ. The VZ has dual-motor all-wheel drive, while the Endurance version has a single electric motor powering the rear wheels. 

Both versions have a 77 kilowatt-hour battery pack, shared with other VW group’s models, that gives a range of up to 550 km (344 miles) for the Endurance and 520 km for the VZ.

For the VZ version, acceleration from 0 to 100 kph (62 mph) is about 5.6 seconds, Cupra said.

Cupra says the Tavascan marks a shift in the brand's design language that will transfer to future EVs. The Tavascan’s “unconventional style might not please everybody; when you want to create something unique, you can’t please everybody," Cupra design boss Jorge Diez said.

He compared the low-slung front end, with the Cupra illuminated logo at the center, to the mask of a superhero. Black A pillars create a “helmet" effect of a wraparound windshield.

The Tavascan is 4,644nmm long, 1,861 mm wide, 1,597 mm high and has a wheelbase of 2,766 mm. The ID5, in comparison, is 4,599 mm long and 1,615 mm high.

Cupra’s lineup will grow in the next two years with three new models, including the Tavascan. The Terramar SUV will reach the market; it will be available in both combustion-engine and plug-in hybrid versions. It will be built at VW Group's factory in Gyor, Hungary, alongside the Audi Q3 Sportback on which it is based. 

Cupra CEO Wayne Griffiths said in March that the Terramar could be seen as a possible replacement for the current Ateca compact SUV, although at 4500 mm it is longer than the Ateca.

The most important new model will come in 2025 with a small full electric hatchback that was  previewed by the Urban Rebel concept. The hatchback will be based on the same VW Group MEB Entry platform that will underpin the coming VW ID2. Both models will be assembled in Seat’s Martorell plant, near Barcelona, after an investment of 3 billion euros.