Cupra (; stylised in

all caps In typography, text or font in all caps (short for "all capitals") contains capital letters without any lowercase letters. For example: All-caps text can be seen in legal documents, advertisements, newspaper headlines, and the titles on book co ...

) is a car brand owned and produced by

SEAT A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but may also refer to concentrations of power in a wider sense (i.e " seat (legal entity)"). See disambiguation. Types of seat The ...

, a Spanish manufacturer part of

Volkswagen Group Volkswagen AG (), known internationally as the Volkswagen Group, is a German public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of passenger and commercial vehicles, motorcycles, engines and turbomachinery. Headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxon ...

, headquartered in

Martorell Martorell () is a municipality, county, and city that forms part of the Baix Llobregat Comarques of Catalonia, comarca, in Catalonia, Spain, primarily known for its medieval Pont del Diable, Devil's bridge. It lies at the confluence of the Llobr ...

near

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

. Originating from SEAT's

motorsport Motorsport or motor sport are sporting events, competitions and related activities that primarily involve the use of Car, automobiles, motorcycles, motorboats and Aircraft, powered aircraft. For each of these vehicle types, the more specific term ...

division

Cupra Racing Cupra Racing, formerly known as SEAT Sport, is the high-performance motorsport subsidiary of the Spanish automobile manufacturer SEAT, founded in 1985, succeeding the "SEAT Special Vehicles department" which had been formed in 1971 with the missi ...

, the Cupra brand was introduced as a standalone brand in January 2018, after being used as a performance sub-brand of SEAT since 1996. While initial Cupra models are based on SEAT vehicles, in September 2020 Cupra introduced the first Cupra-only vehicle, the Cupra Formentor. In 2021, the brand introduced its first electric car called the

Cupra Born The Cupra Born is a battery electric compact car/small family car ( C-segment) marketed by SEAT through its performance-oriented Cupra marque. Initially unveiled as the SEAT el-Born concept in 2019, the production car was revealed in May 2021 a ...

History

Cupra originated from Cupra Racing (previously SEAT Sport), the high-performance motorsport subsidiary of SEAT. The "Cupra" name, short for "Cup Racing" was first used in 1996 by the SEAT Ibiza GTI 2.0 16V Cupra Sport. It is a street legal version of the Ibiza Mk2

kit car Kit may refer to: People and fictional characters * Kit (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or nickname * Kit (surname), a list of people Places * Kit, Iran, a village in Mazandaran Province * Kit Hill ...

used in the competition, created as a special edition to celebrate SEAT's victory in the 1996

FIA 2-Litre World Rally Cup The ''FIA 2-Litre World Rally Cup'' was a sub-section of the World Rally Championship from 1993 to 1999. It involved mostly or , naturally aspirated, front wheel drive cars. The series was discontinued due to high costs, and the new Super 2000 ...

, a subdivision of the

World Rally Championship The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is an international rallying series owned and governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA. Inaugurated in 1973, it is the oldest FIA world championship after Formula One. E ...

at that time. It was followed by the SEAT Ibiza Cupra 1.8 20V in 1999, and the more powerful Ibiza Cupra R in 2000. Over the following two decades, SEAT introduced a succession of hot hatchbacks marketed with the Cupra badge, such as the

SEAT León The SEAT León (), also spelled Leon in some other languages (named after the city of León, Spain, León, which also means "Lion" in Spanish), is a small family car built by the Spanish car manufacturer SEAT since October 1999.ETKA The first ...

Cupra 1.8 20V in 1999, and in the following year the SEAT Leon Cupra 4, which is the first AWD Cupra and the only six-cylinder Cupra. Since then, every SEAT León generation has been supplemented with a Cupra-badged hot hatch version. In 2017, then SEAT CEO

Luca de Meo Luca de Meo (born 13 June 1967) is an Italian automotive executive who is the former CEO of Renault Group. On June 15, 2025, it was announced that he will leave Renault to take over the leadership of the Kering group. Early life and education B ...

hinted at the possibility of Cupra becoming a standalone brand. At that point, Cupra was only available as the performance version of the León. On 31 January 2018, SEAT confirmed that it is launching Cupra as a standalone brand, followed by an announcement event on 22 February 2018, in which prototypes of forthcoming Cupra models such as the Cupra Ateca were shown. SEAT's head of sales and marketing Wayne Griffiths planned to double Cupra sales within the following four to five years, helping SEAT achieve sustainable profitability. Cupra cars were to be sold in some SEAT dealerships in Europe, with dedicated floor space. The Cupra logo of two intersecting triangles was designed by

Alejandro Mesonero-Romanos Alejandro Mesonero-Romanos Aguilar (born in Madrid, 1968) is a Spanish Automotive design, car designer. Background Alejandro Mesonero-Romanos, born in Madrid in 1968, is the son of the engineer José Luis Mesonero-Romanos Sánchez-Pol and Sonsole ...

. According to Mesonero-Romanos, the philosophy of the triangular logo is that a triangle is a dynamic shape, has a stable base, and points in a clear direction. The first model from the standalone Cupra brand was the Cupra Ateca, introduced in October 2018. The

Cupra León Cupra may refer to: * Cupra (marque), an automobile brand owned by the Spanish company SEAT ** Cupra Racing, a car racing team owned by SEAT * Cupra (goddess), a chthonic fertility goddess See also * Cupra Marittima Cupra Marittima () is in th ...

joined the line-up in February 2020, following the introduction of the SEAT León Mk4. In March 2020, Cupra introduced the

Formentor Cap de Formentor () is the northernmost point of Majorca, Mallorca, on the Formentor peninsula. Location Cap de Formentor is located on the northernmost point of the Balearic Islands, Balearic Island Majorca, Mallorca in Spain. Its highest poi ...

after being previewed as a near-production

concept vehicle A concept car (also known as a concept vehicle or show vehicle) is a car made to showcase new styling or new technology. Concept cars are often exhibited at motor shows to gauge customer reaction to new and radical designs which may or may not ...

at the

Geneva International Motor Show The Geneva International Motor Show was an annual auto show held in March in the Swiss city of Geneva. The show was hosted at the Palexpo, a convention centre located next to the Geneva Cointrin International Airport. The Salon was organised by ...

in November 2019. It is the first Cupra product that is not shared with SEAT. In February 2021, the

was introduced as Cupra's first

electric car An electric car or electric vehicle (EV) is a passenger car, passenger automobile that is propelled by an electric motor, electric traction motor, using electrical energy as the primary source of propulsion. The term normally refers to a p ...

. The concept version was called SEAT el-Born, but the Born became a Cupra-only model while remaining closely related to the Volkswagen ID.3. The second electric car from Cupra is the Tavascan, launched in April 2023, which was preceded by the Tavascan concept car shown at the 2019 Frankfurt Motor Show. It is the first Cupra model produced outside Europe, made by

Volkswagen Anhui Volkswagen Anhui (VWA) is a joint venture formed in 2017 between JAC Motors and Volkswagen headquartered in Hefei, Anhui, initially to produce electric vehicles under the SEAT brand, and later the Sehol Sehol () or previously, Sol, is a Chines ...

in China. In March 2024, Cupra announced its intention to enter the U.S. market "by the end of the decade". The planned models to be sold are the next-generation electric Formentor, and an unnamed larger electric vehicle to be produced in Mexico.

Products

Current vehicles

Planned vehicles

* Cupra Raval

Concept cars

* Cupra Ibiza (2018) *

Cupra Tavascan The Cupra Tavascan is a battery electric compact crossover SUV (C-segment) to be produced by Volkswagen Anhui, a joint venture between Volkswagen (75%) and Chinese company JAC Group (25%), and sold by Cupra, a subsidiary of SEAT. The concept ...

(2019) * Cupra Formentor (2019) * Cupra UrbanRebel (2021) * Cupra DarkRebel (2023) Cupra Tavascan at IAA 2019 IMG 0791.jpg, Cupra Tavascan (2019) Cupra UrbanRebel Concept IAA 2021 1X7A0105.jpg, Cupra Urban Rebel (2021) Cupra Raval (concept) IAA 2023 1X7A0429.jpg, Cupra Raval (2022) Cupra DarkRebel Concept, IAA, Múnich, Alemania, 2023-09-10, DD 03.jpg, Cupra Dark Rebel Concept (2023)

Racing cars

* Cupra E-TCR (2018) * Cupra E-Racer (2020) * Cupra Tavascan Extreme E Concept (2021) Cupra e-Racer (E-TCR) Genf 2018.jpg, Cupra E-TCR (2018) Cupra E-Racer IAA 2021 1X7A0093.jpg, Cupra E-Racer (2020) Cupra Tavascan Extreme E Concept IAA 2021 1X7A0090.jpg, Cupra Tavascan Extreme E (2021)

Yacht

De Antonio Yachts D28 Formentor is a

yacht A yacht () is a sail- or marine propulsion, motor-propelled watercraft made for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a ...

introduced in July 2021 as a collaborative project between

-based shipbuilder De Antonio Yachts and Cupra's Color & Trim division. Its design was said to be inspired by the Cupra Formentor VZ5.

Production figures

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cupra Spanish brands Volkswagen Group Car brands 2018 establishments in Spain