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Higher growth, higher margins, electric future. Definitively, Cupra is the brand on which Seat places its hopes for the future, both for growth and profitability. When in 2018 Cupra was launched like Seat’s sports brand, few could have imagined that in less than five years the bet would go from being a complementary offer to defining the axis of growth of the automobile company based in Martorell (Barcelona), a progression that the company’s management ensures that in no case does it threaten the future of Seat, but quite the opposite, what it does precisely is ensure it.
This has been confirmed this afternoon by the company in the old circuit of Terramar (Sitges), the setting where Cupra was born in 2018 and where today the cards reserved for the firm until 2025 and beyond have been shown: three new models and sustained growth in sales to reach 500,000 ‘cupras’ delivered annually in the medium term, a figure that would come close to the historical record of 540,000 cars sold by Seat in the pre-pandemic 2019.
The numbers speak for themselves. If to date Cupra has delivered nearly 200,000 units and its turnover has gone from 430 million euros in 2018 to almost 2,200 million euros in 2021 – “figures that are well above all expectations”, they insist from the management -, the progression for the coming years is accelerating, with the forecast of doubling turnover and sales already in this exercise. “Our medium-term goal is to deliver 500,000 cars a year and drive our international expansion into new markets, as well as enter new segments,” Wayne Griffiths, CEO of Seat and Cupra, confirmed this afternoon, without specifying what sales mix of Seat and Cupra models is expected for that year. For now, the firm insists, the key is that there is a project for the future and the foundations for recovery are laid: in this first quarter of 2022, in part thanks to the higher margins of Cupra -a brand from which it is delivered one car for every three of Seat- has returned to profit after the last two years in red.
The acceleration of Cupra in recent years is explained by the excellent reception in international markets -Germany, for example-, and particularly with models such as the Formentor, the successful crossover SUV that with 100,000 cars delivered is the firm’s best-seller . It is also understood by the clear commitment of the group, which in times of difficulties -Covid crisis, lack of supply of semiconductors…- has decided prioritize Cupra against Seat due to its greater profitability.
The path was already traced when at the time, in a key decision, the management decided that the first 100% electric model of the Spanish car company, the Born, was sold under the Cupra emblem and not Seat, triggering concern in part of the workforce about the future that awaits the historic firm. What is to come in the coming years, it is clear, is going in the same direction, as confirmed by the firm today at an event with more than 600 guests. The future of Seat is written by Cupra.
The offensive of new models is important. The biggest novelty advanced this Tuesday -in an act with more than 600 guests, among them the president of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonés, that of Navarra, María Chivite, and the minister Raquel Sánchez- is the launch in 2024 of the baptized as Cupra Terramar, a plug-in hybrid sports SUV that will mark the debut of Cupra in the segment that is growing the most in Europe. It will be manufactured in Hungary, at Audi’s Györ plant. The Terramar will be available with combustion engines, as well as a new generation of plug-in hybrid powertrains that offer around 100 kilometers of range in purely electric mode, the company has reported. Also in 2024 will launch the Tavascan, a ‘coupè’ SUV that will become the company’s second 100% electric model. Industry sources say it could be manufactured in China.
2025, scale jump
Both Terramar and Tavascan will be the prologue to 2025, when it is trusted that Cupra will make its final leap in scale with the urban electric vehicle that Seat leads both for Cupra and for the rest of the Volkswagen group brands. “The Cupra UrbanRebel -provisional name- will be our company’s biggest project in the coming years, as it is key to our transformation into a fully electric brand”, Griffiths confirmed of a vehicle called to guarantee industrial continuity and the electrification of the Martorell plant and whose development goes hand in hand with the Electric and Connected Vehicle Part, which in turn includes the new battery factory in Sagunto (Valencia).
“The UrbanRebel it is more than a car for Cupra. It is the model that will democratize urban electric mobility. Emotional, sexy, fun to drive and, at the same time, accessible, with it we will show that electric cars do not have to be boring. This will be the entry vehicle to our future range”, Griffiths pointed out during the event.
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