Photo: X-Tomi Design
Like so many other car brands, SEAT is taking its strong connection to motorsport and becoming a sellout with a performance crossover. According to the latest reports, the Spanish automaker will launch a bespoke 4x4 model around the turn of the decade.
Taking a performance brand and turning into a separate entity is nothing new. Volvo did it after swallowing the Polestar team, for example. But while Mercedes said "no" to a bespoke AMG SUV, Cupra will say "yes."
Officials within the company have told Autocar magazine that a standalone model is on its. It spawns from the work of dedicated engineers and designers, with due-date being 2020, the same year when the Cupra Arona is supposed to come out.
“It has been thought from the beginning with the DNA of Cupra,” design boss Alejandro Mesonero-Romanos told our source. “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.”
While it is not officially stated which form the Cupra SUV will take, the UK publication claims it's a crossover coupe, along with the lines of the BMW X4. Such a thing would be expensive to develop as a stand-alone, so either it's derived from something VW has planned or will also get a regular SEAT version.
Between now and then, SEAT needs to introduce the revealed but not yet launched Cupra Ateca. It's also expected that a hot version of the Ibiza supermini is on its way, previewed recently by a concept.
"At the start of a brand, you need to go in stages,” added 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.”
Officials within the company have told Autocar magazine that a standalone model is on its. It spawns from the work of dedicated engineers and designers, with due-date being 2020, the same year when the Cupra Arona is supposed to come out.
“It has been thought from the beginning with the DNA of Cupra,” design boss Alejandro Mesonero-Romanos told our source. “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.”
While it is not officially stated which form the Cupra SUV will take, the UK publication claims it's a crossover coupe, along with the lines of the BMW X4. Such a thing would be expensive to develop as a stand-alone, so either it's derived from something VW has planned or will also get a regular SEAT version.
Between now and then, SEAT needs to introduce the revealed but not yet launched Cupra Ateca. It's also expected that a hot version of the Ibiza supermini is on its way, previewed recently by a concept.
"At the start of a brand, you need to go in stages,” added 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.”
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