Despite President Trump’s tariffs, Cupra wants to start selling cars in the U.S. market by 2030. It’s slotting the brand between Volkswagen and Audi.
When I heard that Cupra wants to enter the U.S. market by 2030, I thought it was crazy. But then again, I thought that launching the Cupra brand back in 2018 was crazy, too. After all, the automotive world is awash in brands, and there didn’t seem to be room for another. Yet Cupra managed to sell 248,100 cars last year, which is a pretty decent number. And so now I’m thinking that maybe it isn’t so crazy after all.
Cupra is a spin-off of SEAT, the automaker based in Spain that’s part of the Volkswagen Group. The brand was launched to fill a perceived gap between the VW brand and Audi, designing cars with flashier styling and punchier performance than a VW, but not as pricey as an Audi. And it worked.
While sales are concentrated in Europe, Cupras are also sold in Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and Chile. Now, the 15,000-employee company has set its sights on the U.S. market. It has no plans to try and sell cars nationwide, only in cities where it thinks it can be successful, like San Francisco, LA, New York, Miami, Austin, Chicago and Dallas. It’s in talks with Penske Automotive to sell its cars and it will use VW’s captive finance group to sell and lease them.
Cupra executives shrug off worries about U.S. import tariffs even though its cars are made in Spain, Germany and Hungary. They believe the tariff situation will be resolved by then, which by implication means they don’t believe the tariff rate will stay at the 25% level that President Trump has set. I got the impression from them that they could deal with a 10% tariff.
Cupra’s original goal was to be an all-BEV brand. But market realities revised those plans to include ICE and PHEV powertrains. There are currently seven models in its line-up, and in Europe the sweet spot in their pricing is in the high $30,000 to low $40,000 range.
I got a chance to take brief test drives around Miami in an AWD Terramar crossover powered by a 265 hp 2-liter turbo, and a PHEV Formentor with 272 hp. The most striking aspects of these cars are the interiors. They’re very well finished, with soft-touch materials everywhere, contrasting stitching, and well bolstered seats. I really need more seat time to give a thorough evaluation, but my first impressions are that these are quick, comfortable cars that have kind of a premium feel without a premium price.
On the exterior, you’ll notice a recurring styling theme of three triangles. The headlamps are illuminated through three triangles, the wheels carry the triangular motif, and even the Cupra logo is a combo of three triangles.
The brand is primarily targeted at 36- to 45-year-olds. And it wants to appeal to them with more than cars, so it opened a design house in Milano, Italy to come up with Cupra footwear, clothes, jewelry, luggage and even chairs that reflect the brand’s design—but with a twist. All those items are made using plastic trash that’s been fished out of the ocean.
Cupra is also focused on racing and is campaigning a team in Formula E using powertrains provided by Porsche. In fact, the name Cupra is derived from Cup Racing. To help set the stage for its entry into the American market, it’s running a Cupra Leon hatchback in IMSA’s Michelin Pilot Challenge which races in the U.S. and Canada.
There are 10 other manufacturers in the Michelin Pilot Challenge, so Cupra is going to have its hands full trying to stand out from all the others. And while I might have once said that Cupra was crazy to start racing in the U.S. before it even started selling cars there, I’ve stopped calling this company crazy.
As I listen to your description of the upcoming Cupra car, I am struck by one thing. The specifics of what Cupra’s ‘target’ is, sound familiar. It aspires to be a car with premium features and look, but without those Premium car prices. Admittedly, with varying degrees of success, this literally used to be the wheelhouse of the Chrysler brand under Chrysler Corporation.
Now, with successive years of Fiat, Cerburus, and now Stellaexpialidocious, that once proud brand, has been stripped to the core. One car…. uhm, minivan. UGH! And this is even worse, in the brand’s 100th year of existence, their the starvation diet of models simply continues.
It is completely baffling to me. Stella appears to have zero interest in building a brand that has simple “CLASS”, and is affordable. It’s all about the extremes of BRO this (Jeep), or BRO that (Ram), or BRO the other thing (Dodge – though it is also on a starvation diet for model selection) It’s become a testosterone addict, but without the needed reliability, or affordable and accessible model, that would allow someone to be part of the ‘fun’.
Stella could use a bit of VW insight on this. Fever-dreams, and blatant reliability disappointments of the brand aren’t going to be a successful way forward.
Maybe ol’ Stella needs to consider doing some for of VW-group thinking. This Cupra sounds interesting!