The Cupra is the performance division of the Spanish carmaker, Seat. The top officials of the performance divisions are reportedly exploring the idea of going electric in future in order to stand out from its competition.
Although in early stages, the idea is being discussed at the carmaker’s Spanish headquarters and has been proposed to the office in the UK. If conceptualised, the firm would go ahead and electrify one or two sports variant of their current crop of cars and do them properly,said the Volkswagen-owned car maker.
Seat’s top management has expressed the desire to make the Cupra brand more desirable and consequently makeit more profitable. The electrification push will allow Seat to plunge into a newer segment and a different set of car buyers. Given the fact that the carmaker has little or no motorsport expertise to better its sporting brand, electrification is one way to go.
Once in it, the firm will look into exploiting the motorsport as well in order to improve their product quality. Or simply let their products speak for themselves. As the carmaker explains – ‘there are different types of motorsport now, and it doesn’t have to be about lap records at the Nurburgring. There are better ways to capture the attention of the younger generation of car buyers these days’.
Seat isn’t the first brand to explore the idea of electrifying their performance products. Volvo’s Polestar confirmed their new range of performance vehicles will have electrified powertrains. The Renaultsport has showcased the performance variant of the Zoe electric hatch and is already testing the prototype with a final product expected by the end of the decade.
The Cupra, on the other hand, has a Leon hot hatch slated for next year. The Ateca Cupra has also been spotted doing rounds on the Nurburgring. If the decision gets a green flag, we could expect the electrified Cupra sometime around the year 2020.
