All About Cupra, a Spanish VW Brand That Wants to Come to the United States

 

Only Cupra has managed to maintain consistent global sales growth over the last six years among the Volkswagen Group's eight car brands. Cupra, once a performance subbrand of Spanish manufacturer Seat (pronounced SAY-aht), acquired its own marque in 2018 with the introduction of the Ateca, a performance-oriented brother of the Seat Ateca small SUV. Cupra sales in 2018 were a somewhat unimpressive 14,400 units, or around one-fifth of Seat Atecas sold

Cupra's portfolio expanded, and so did its sales. Though the Cupra Leon followed in the footsteps of its Ateca stablemate as a more dynamically capable variant of a Seat model bearing an identical nameplate, Cupra—a name derived from "Cup racing"—soon differentiated itself from Seat with the addition of the Formentor, a small SUV with no Seat counterpart. The battery-electric Born and Tavascan, as well as the Terramar small SUV, quickly followed, giving the young company four unique models in what is now a seven-car portfolio and helping it sell a record 248,100 units in 2024—more than 17 times what it sold just six years earlier.

"I often get asked, 'Why is Cupra such a success compared to other [young] brands?'" explains Wayne Griffiths, Cupra's former CEO. "One of the reasons is that we got started right away. We had factories and a dealer network.

Whereas other younger manufacturers, such as Rivian and Lucid, had to find or build a plant and establish a sales network, Cupra's tight relationship with Seat and membership in the Volkswagen Group enabled it to build and sell vehicles in Europe, Australia, and Mexico. Griffiths is following in the footsteps of the brand's success in other markets by beginning Cupra's activities in America. This includes plans to manufacture Cupras at VW Group's North American plants and establish a dedicated dealer network here.

"I think we need to do a bigger SUV, but I also think we probably need to do a full-electric car," Griffiths adds of the company's US product ambitions. "I would love to create the Dark Rebel, a totally electric sports automobile. "That would be an excellent vehicle to position the brand." However, developing a production version of the shooting-brake concept is not a current priority for the brand, which aims to bridge the gap between Volkswagen and Audi by emphasizing dramatic designs and an athletic ethos at a price point that reflects its position between mainstream and luxury. The focus is on automobiles with high volume potential.

Cupra wants to employ a classic dealership model to attain its high-volume target, as opposed to other upstart businesses' direct-sales methods, such as corporate cousin Scout. Cupra intends to debut in select East Coast, West Coast, and Sunbelt states by the end of the decade, with a two-vehicle portfolio ready within a year of hitting the market. If everything goes as planned, Cupra expects yearly sales of roughly 100,000 devices in the United States within a few years.

"The strategy must be nailed right from the start," says Robby DeGraff, manager of product and consumer insights at AutoPacific. "Especially for a brand with likely little to no brand awareness or recognition."

However, Cupra will need more than simply exceptional products to establish itself in the United States. "You have to bring your checkbook to succeed in America," says Tyson Jominy, J.D. Power's vice president of statistics and analytics. "Certainly, being part of the Volkswagen Group means Cupra will have access to all its resources—and the learnings the company has about selling cars in this country."

Despite the financial support and tactical know-how that Cupra may acquire from its corporate overlord, the Spanish brand confronts significant challenges in its quest to win over American customers. "The fact we were able to make it in Europe doesn't mean we're going to make it in the U.S.," Griffiths tells me.

Cupra Calling

These vehicles may be part of the Spanish brand's portfolio in the United States.

The Terramar SUV and Tavascan EV are the best-suited cars in Cupra's current portfolio for the United States market. The former is manufactured alongside the Audi Q3 in Györ, Hungary. The Terramar, which costs around $46,000, is based on the VW Group's MQB Evo platform, as is the 2025 Volkswagen Tiguan produced in Puebla, Mexico. A trio of turbo four-cylinder powertrains are offered, including a plug-in hybrid.

The Tavascan, priced at $55,000, shares its MEB platform with the Volkswagen ID.4 produced in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and is available in 282-hp single-motor and 335-hp dual-motor configurations.

If Cupra develops a new bigger SUV in North America, it may employ the PPC platform from the newest Puebla-made Audi Q5 or the MQB Evo platform, which is slated to underlie the next-generation VW Atlas manufactured in Chattanooga.

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