Cupra, Volkswagen Group’s sporty EV-focused model, is beginning market testing for a potential enlargement to the U.S., Seat and Cupra CEO Wayne Griffiths stated.
The potential transfer is a part of a push so as to add new markets for Cupra, which was as soon as a performance-oriented sub model of VW’s Spanish model Seat however now has its personal distinct fashions.
Cupra has began gross sales in Mexico and Australia, and it’ll quickly add Colombia and Chile. Growth to new markets will assist Cupra attain its mid-term objective of promoting 500,000 vehicles a yr, the model stated this week in a launch.
“So far as our ambition of being really international, we’re at the moment analyzing a potential entry into the North American market,” Griffiths stated Wednesday at Cupra’s annual information convention. “For the time being, we’re testing our model with potential shoppers; we expect People would love Cupra’s design and nice efficiency.”
The primary outcomes of these checks are very promising, he added.
Griffiths didn’t say which fashions Cupra may promote on the U.S. market. The present lineup consists of 4 compact fashions: The Leon hatchback, the Formentor crossover, the Ateca SUV and the Born, a full-electric hatchback.
Subsequent yr, they are going to be joined by the Tavascan, a compact electrical SUV, and the Terramar, a midsize crossover. The Tavascan can be unveiled subsequent month in Berlin.
Griffiths stated in an interview with the U.Okay. publication Autocar that if Cupra enters the U.S. market, it can achieve this solely with bigger, full-electric fashions.
“You want a automotive within the US that is match for the U.S. and electrical,” he advised Autocar. “A U.S. electrical automotive is usually larger, so will probably be a subsequent era of electrical vehicles that will be primarily based on the SSP platform from VW.” That platform is anticipated a while after 2025.
Griffiths stated the timing of a U.S. market entry could be linked to Cupra’s transfer to an electric-only model, which he has stated can be by 2030. Cupra, as a brand new model, additionally wants to ascertain itself in Europe, he added.
“The investments for making vehicles prepared for America are appreciable, and I believe we must be stronger first in Europe and ensure we’ve executed our homework,” he stated, including that Cupra was in search of a European market share of three to 4 %.
Cupra’s market share on the finish of February was 1.2 %, in response to trade group ACEA, a 60 % improve from 2022.
The North American market has lengthy been coveted by sporty European manufacturers. The Stellantis group’s Alfa Romeo model first effort resulted in 1995, nevertheless it returned to the U.S. in 2014, first with the area of interest 4C coupe, then with the midsize Giulia sedan and Stelvio SUV. The compact Tonale SUV debuted this yr, and model CEO Jean-Philippe Imparato stated in January that a big full-electric automobile can be developed by 2027 to develop within the U.S.
Renault’s Alpine model can also be planning a U.S. enlargement beginning in 2027 or 2028. CEO Laurent Rossi stated in January that the U.S. market can be essential for Alpine’s bold income and gross sales targets. The model has aspirations to promote two fashions within the U.S., a midsize full-electric SUV and a bigger, comparable mannequin, beginning in 2027 or 2028.
Cupra’s lineup will develop within the subsequent two years with three new fashions. The Tavascan can be unveiled subsequent month and can go on sale in 2024; will probably be assembled in China in a VW three way partnership manufacturing unit in Anhui.
Additionally subsequent yr, the bigger Terramar SUV will hit the market; will probably be obtainable in each combustion-engine and plug-in hybrid variations. It will likely be constructed at VW Group’s manufacturing unit in Gyor, Hungary, alongside the Audi Q3 Sportback on which it’s primarily based.
Griffiths stated yesterday that the Terramar might be seen as a potential alternative for the present Ateca compact SUV, though at 4500 mm it’s longer than the Ateca.
An important new mannequin can be in 2025 a small full electrical hatchback, which has been previewed by the City Insurgent idea.
The hatchback can be primarily based on the identical VW Group MEB Entry platform that may underpin the approaching VW ID2. Each fashions can be assembled in Seat’s Martorell plant, close to Barcelona, after an funding of three billion euros.