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2021 Cupra Leon Gets Widebody, GTI and Allroad Makeovers

We're about a week away from the official debut of the all-new Cupra Leon and... we couldn't be less excited. The problem isn't that they put the Cupra before the car name, but the downsizing of the engine.
2021 Cupra Leon Gets Widebody, GTI and Allroad Makeovers 13 photos
Photo: Aksyonov Nikita
2021 Cupra Leon Gets Widebody, GTI and Allroad Makeovers2021 Cupra Leon Gets Widebody, GTI and Allroad Makeovers2021 Cupra Leon Gets Widebody, GTI and Allroad Makeovers2021 Cupra Leon Gets Widebody, GTI and Allroad Makeovers2021 Cupra Leon Gets Widebody, GTI and Allroad Makeovers2021 Cupra Leon Gets Widebody, GTI and Allroad Makeovers2021 Cupra Leon Gets Widebody, GTI and Allroad Makeovers2021 Cupra Leon Gets Widebody, GTI and Allroad Makeovers2021 Cupra Leon Gets Widebody, GTI and Allroad Makeovers2021 Cupra Leon Gets Widebody, GTI and Allroad Makeovers2021 Cupra Leon Gets Widebody, GTI and Allroad Makeovers2021 Cupra Leon Gets Widebody, GTI and Allroad Makeovers
And this isn't downsizing like the Renault Megane RS, which just went from a 2.0 to a 1.8-liter without any power losses. No, they're replacing everybody's favorite Golf GTI budget alternative with a hybrid. *loudly crying emoji*

All signs point towards a 1.4-liter plug-in hybrid drive with 245 horsepower, the same as in the Golf GTE. The output itself isn't bad, but it will be accompanied by an overburdening battery pack and perhaps a muted soundtrack. What is even the point of living if you can't wake up the whole neighborhood with your exhaust bangs?

To be honest, the Leon stopped being a budget hot hatch about three years ago. Most versions were listed at 40,000 euros or more, which just wasn't worth it for most enthusiasts. The slow death of the hot hatch phenomenon is happening because of ridiculously low emissions targets from the EU. That's why there's no new Clio RS, for example.

While we're still quietly hoping that a 300+ horsepower Leon R may still be offered, we'll keep our minds preoccupied with some cool renderings. The Saint Petersburg artist Aksyonov Nikita has put these together a bunch of different looks for the Spanish lion hatchback, and we like some of them.

We'll start with the widebody race car, obviously. It's extreme, looks impractical and expensive - perfect. Now, the style itself is quite similar to the 680 horsepower Cupra e-Racer, based on the previous Leon. But this rendering has a double exhaust and massive radiator intakes, so it's not running on Duracells.

All the other renderings have connections in the real world, which is really cool. For example, the Leon Allroad rendering is just like the Leon Sport Cross concept of five years ago, which had a 300 horsepower Cupra powertrain.

We've also got a Leon GTI, which reminds us of the time we found the Mk2 Leon with the bumper from a Golf 6 GTI. Skoda too? Yes, the Vision RS concept inspired a rendering of its own.
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About the author: Mihnea Radu
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Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida.
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