- Cupra’s Raval EV has been spied testing in prototype form.
- The subcompact electric hatch is due to launch in 2025.
- It shares a platform with the VW ID.2 and Skoda Epiq.
Cupra is a rising star in Volkswagen’s empire, and the Spanish company is the first in the German Group to get to use a new small EV platform that makes its production debut on the 2026 Raval seen in these fresh spy shots.
The Raval is the culmination of a project we first met as the motorsport-inspired UrbanRebel concept and which later involved into another concept of the same name that was sanitized for road duties, losing its huge rear wing in the process.
Related: New Cupra Raval EV Looks Like A Baby Panamera Hatch
Cupra then renamed the UrbanRebel the Raval, and has promised it’ll debut the electric hatch in 2025. That means Cupra’s take on the MEB Short architecture could arrive in showrooms several months earlier than VW’s version, the ID.2.
VW previously claimed it would also debut the ID.2 in 2025, and that might be the case, but a recent report by Bloomberg said VW would have to get through this year without any new EV products, and the fact that we’ve only seen the ID.2 testing using an ID.3 as a mule, suggests it’s a long way from being ready for the showroom. But we have seen VW’s EV in concept form, as the 2023 ID.2all, and assuming production versions of the Raval and ID.2 look very similar to the concepts that previewed them, which would you take?
Though they share a 2.6 m (102.4 inches) wheelbase (which, is practically identical to a current ICE Golf’s), the Raval adopts Cupra’s bird-like nose, has a pinched waist and some dynamic-looking lines to connect the front fender to the rear side window and make the taillights wrap around the rear quarter panel.
VW’s design, on the other hand, treads a less showy path, carefully borrowing some classic Golf design cues and feel, without coming across as overly retro. You can check out both designs in the gallery at the bottom of the page to see how radically different they look.
Under the skin, of course, like most VW Group products, they’ll be incredibly similar, and both cars will be built in Pamplona, Spain, together with another brother, the Skoda Epiq. The MEB Short platform is front-wheel drive by default (the current MEB is RWD or AWD) and a choice of 38 kWh and 56 kWh batteries will allow VW and Cupra to deliver a low €25k ($26k) entry price for the value conscious and a decent range (up to 450 km / 280 miles) for those with more money to spend.
Both automakers talked about the concepts having a 222 hp (226 PS / 166 kW) electric motor and being able to hit 62 mph (100 kmh) in less than 7 seconds, though we’re sure less powerful versions will also be offered. For those wanting even more power, Cupra is working on a VZ variant using the concept’s 335 horsepower (340PS / 250kW) dual-motor setup, and VW will surely match it.
Whose version of the VW Group baby EV project do you prefer? Would you go for the edgy Cupra Raval or wait a few months longer to get your hands on the more grown-up ID.2?
