March 22, 2024 06:06 AM

Cupra CEO confirms U.S. market entry by 2030

Wayne Griffiths, the CEO of VW Group's Seat/Cupra brands, said Cupra would sell two BEVs, the next-generation Formentor compact SUV and a larger model, in the U.S.

Cupra's models for the U.S. market will include the next-generation Formentor compact SUV as a full-electric model. The current generation is shown.

BARCELONA – Cupra will enter the U.S. market by 2030 with two full-electric SUVs, the next-generation compact Formentor and a larger model, CEO Wayne Griffiths said.

U.S. sales will start on the East and West Coasts, Griffiths said Thursday at Seat/Cupra’s annual news conference in Barcelona. There will be a “new distribution model,” he said, without giving details.

Griffiths said in September at the Munich auto show that Cupra, which is part of Volkswagen Group, was considering a U.S. entry. VW Group sells the VW brand there, as well as premium and luxury brands including Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini and Porsche. It is also starting the truck- and SUV-focused Scout brand.

Cupra, originally a performance variant of Seat models, became a stand-alone brand in 2018 under former Seat CEO Luca de Meo, now CEO of Renault Group.

The next-generation Formentor will be launched toward the end of the decade and will be one of the brand’s most important products, Griffiths said. It will be built on the future VW Group SSP platform, he said.

The production location has not been decided, Griffiths said, adding that he would like it to be built in Seat’s factory in Martorell, near Barcelona.

Coming Cupra models include, from left, the Tavascan, front left, the Terramar, rear, and the Ravel (shown as the Urban Rebel concept).

A face-lifted version of the current Formentor will be unveiled in a few weeks in Madrid. The Formentor accounted for more than half of Cupra’s global sales in 2023, according to Seat: 120,000 units were sold worldwide, out of a total of 230,000 for the brand (a 50 percent increase on 2022).

The second Cupra model for the U.S. market, a crossover SUV larger than the Formentor, will be produced at Volkswagen Group factories in the North America region, including Mexico, Griffiths said.

Cupra is launching three new models by the end of 2025. Sales will start by the end of June for the Tavascan, a midsize electric SUV built in China. It will be followed in the third quarter of this year by the Terramar ICE-based crossover, which will be built in Audi’s factory in Gyor, Hungary, alongside a sibling VW Group model, the Audi Q3. At the end of 2025, Cupra will unveil the Raval, a small electric hatchback that will be launched in the first half of 2026.

The Raval will be the first of four VW group small BEVs underpinned by a shortened version of the MEB platform. The Raval and VW’s version, the ID2, will be assembled in Martorell; the Skoda Epiq SUV and an as-yet- unnamed VW brand SUV will be built in VW’s factory in Pamplona, Spain.