Seat’s Cupra Brand Betting Big On Crossovers With First Dedicated Model

The Cupra name has, until now, been applied to performance-oriented versions of existing Seats.

But now that’s been spun off into its own brand, Cupra is working on its first dedicated model and, according to the latest info, it shall be a crossover.

Autocar reports that the newly separated brand will launch its own stand-alone vehicle in 2020, developed by a dedicated team of designers and engineers.

Though no official confirmation has been made as to what form that model will take, the publication claims it’ll be a crossover coupe in the mold of the BMW X4 et al. And though more sedate Seat-badged versions could follow, it’ll launch first as a Cupra.

“It has been thought from the beginning with the DNA of Cupra,” design boss Alejandro Mesonero-Romanos told Autocar. “That doesn’t mean Cupra Ateca is not a Cupra. But for my team, and the engineers, the next car was born with 100% Cupra philosophy. It’s a Cupra. It will have its own identity.”

Before that model arrives, though, Cupra will launch a performance version of the Seat Ateca. “At the start of a brand, you need to go in stages,” said Mesonero-Romanos. “When we decided to start Cupra, you could wait until you have a car born 100% as a Cupra, or you can start the brand going in steps. This is what we have done with Cupra Ateca. It’s the first step of where we are going.”

Following the Ateca and the new dedicated model (whatever form it may take), Cupra is tipped to work up new performance versions of the Ibiza hatchback and the Arona SUV. So within a few years, we could be seeing as many as three Cupra crossovers, capitalizing on the growing popularity of the segment in markets around the world.