Cupra Is Coming To America, You Should Get To Know The Brand
Yes, that’s correct. The Spanish automotive brand, a member of the massive Volkswagen Group (VG), is planning to come to America by the end of the decade. A self-described sporty member of the VG family, Cupra looks to give customers on our shores a choice of cars, SUVs, and EVs that have a fun-to-drive edge.
What Is Cupra?
Folks from Europe, complete car nerds like me, or anyone who played Gran Turismo 4, 5, or 6 may be familiar with the Cupra name. Initially, Cupra was a designation for the sportiest versions of various SEAT cars like the Ibiza and Leon.
The word Cupra comes from a combination of “Cup Racing”, taking the CUP and the RA, and putting them together.
In 2018, Cupra, the brand, was spun off from parent SEAT and has been quite successful since. Cupra is set to replace SEAT within the Volkswagen Group altogether over the next few years.
But as we found out in Miami, Cupra is more than just rebadged Volkswagen products. Sure, there are a lot of shared components, but think of the relationship more like the current Hyundai/Kia set-up rather than the badge-engineering malaise we saw dominating the industry during the 1980s and 1990s.
With an emphasis on sport and style, Cupra is aware that the brand won’t be for everyone. Instead, the manufacturer is targeting a specific customer with the hopes of making them loyal for life. Operating under a small team, Cupra describes the company as unconventional, looking to make every vehicle produced fun to drive—even electric vehicles.
Cupra Formentor: All The Details
Bigger Than Expected
Stepping back in time a bit, in 2020, Cupra had COVID-affected sales totalling $350 million. Four short years later, the brand boasted $2.1 billion in annual sales. The next target is surpassing $4 billion by 2030, which is around the time Cupra hopes to descend on America. For our readers in Canada, the Spanish brand is considering entering the great white north market as well.
As it stands, there are 900 Cupra dealers worldwide, including 10 Cupra City Garage specialty super stores. Germany is the biggest market for the manufacturer, while regions like Mexico, New Zealand, and Australia are all serviced by Cupra as well.
While in Miami, I had the opportunity to drive the Cupra Formentor, which is a compact, front-wheel drive crossover. Formentor is named after an island in Spain, which follows the brand’s naming convention as all models are named after regions in Spain.
The Formentor is one of the brand’s older nameplates, having entered a second generation for the 2025 model year. It joins the Born and Leon as newly introduced 2025 models, with the Terramar and Tavascan having been launched last year. Next up in the product overhaul will be the Raval, coming in 2026.
Getting The Word Out
Much like Cupra’s vehicle portfolio, when it comes to marketing, the brand picks and chooses specific places to advertise. Instead of marketing across many platforms, all the company’s efforts are poured into specific projects, like sponsoring the America’s Cup sailing race. Heck, Cupra even made a pace SUV that drives on water for the event.
Another area Cupra is heavily invested in is Formula E. The brand has its own team that uses the Porsche powertrain (that Volkswagen family tree helps). The company hopes to make gains in the series as it slowly climbs the ranks.
Before Formula E, Cupra has also been involved with TCR cars, Extreme E, and long-distance rallying.
Coming To America
Although the plan is to enter the American market by the end of the decade, what exactly is coming to America has not been confirmed. Cupra will launch two all-new vehicles with all-new nameplates for the United States. So, nothing currently produced is expected to come over to our shores, at least not at first. One of the launch vehicles will come with a combustion/electrified drivetrain, while the other will be a pure electric vehicle.
The goal is to assemble at least one of the vehicles in the United States, and the brand is looking at the three Volkswagen manufacturing plants currently here in North America. The company is confident that one will be secured for production.
From there, Cupra will work with Penske on laying out the exact dealer/sales/franchise network.
It will all be a steep hill to climb to gain a foothold in the American market, but Cupra appears up for the challenge.
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A 20+ year industry veteran, Mike rejoins the AutoGuide team as the Managing Editor. He started his career at a young age working at dealerships, car rentals, and used car advertisers. He then found his true passion, automotive writing. After contributing to multiple websites for several years, he spent the next six years working at the head office of an automotive OEM, before returning back to the field he loves. He is a member of the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC), and Midwest Automotive Media Association (MAMA). He's the recipient of a feature writing of the year award and multiple video of the year awards.
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Their shoebox sized EV hatchback weighs 4,400lbs and starts at $42,000 in Mexico. What is it going to take to squash this nonsense?
Just what we need, more SUV's.