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SEAT Ateca Cupra Prototype Is Real, Gets Photographed for First Time

The SEAT Cupra SUV has been talked about since before we knew the Ateca name. But it's a thing, a very real thing that was present at the launch event for the Leon mid-life facelift.
SEAT Ateca Cupra Prototype Is Real, Gets Photographed for First Time 1 photo
Photo: ames Dennison on Twitter
And because the hatchback only got a few cosmetic updated, everybody is talking about the Ateca Cupra instead. We're only going to share the one photo posted by Car magazine's James Dennison on Twitter, but you can check out the lot on Auto Express' website.

As you can see, it's a regular Ateca with a gunmetal gray matte wrap, bigger wheels, a Brembo big-brake upgrade and a quad exhaust system.

While the Leon Cupra has only two pipes, this has four of them, just like the VW Golf R. Speaking of which, the Ateca Cupra has a lot of sister cars, which we suddenly feel the urge to talk about.

The most recent of all is a Tiguan R that's been spotted at the Nurburgring a week ago. It too features a 2-liter engine with a turbocharger big enough to push it past 300 horsepower.

If approved for production, the Ateca Cupra would likely be the most powerful SEAT car ever made, but probably not the fastest. We have no doubt that it would sell, especially since Audi had the same idea many years ago.

The relatively unsuccessful RS Q3 project is going to be followed by the RS Q2 and SQ2, at least one of which is going to use the 2.0 TSI as well.

We're treating this like a foregone conclusion, but, unfortunately, it's not. SEAT is the smallest of all the VW Group brands. The Ateca is like a droplet in the ocean, having secured 20,000 ordered since launch, compared to the 2.8 million units sold by the previous Tiguan. So company bosses might be a little apprehensive about a potential €40,000 performance version.
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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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