Spanish car company Cupra – part of the Volkswagen Group – wants to become a leading all-electric brand name in Australia, and in line with its ambitions to become all-electric by 2030 has announced it will bring two more EVs and a plug in hybrid from 2025.
Those new additions will join the newly launched Cupra Born, a long range, sporty electric hatch that will be offered to Australian consumers later this year, although the pricing has yet to be finalised.
Cupra – and hopefully other global car companies – have been encouraged by the change in politics and attitudes since the election of the federal Labor government in May and hopefully the end of the war on EV technology.
“Australia (politics) changed a lot over the last month,” says Dr Werner Tietz, Cupra’s vice president of R&D.
“In February, we had a prognosis for 2030, which was saying that electrification (in Australia) will go up to 25-30%. But now the new prognosis (is) go up to 45% already in 2030. This is why we think the market is ready for the launch of electric cars.”
The big question is whether VW will follow suit and bring some of its electric range to Australia, such as the top selling ID.3 and ID.4. So far it has resisted because of the lack of vehicle emissions standards in Australia, but there are hints that it may be about to move.
Three more electrified Cupra models will join the Born from 2025: the all-electric Tavascan and UrbanRebel, and the plug-in hybrid Terramar.
Cupra’s global CEO Wayne Griffiths, who flew to Australia for the media launch this week said the company aims to sell 7,000 cars a year in Australia by 2025, and most of these will be electric.
“We want to be the relevant, cool and desirable brand that combines electric and sporty performance,” he said. “Our ambition is to reach more than 5% market share in the electric segment in the long-term.”
The brand doesn’t want to compete with electric hatch mainstays such as the Nissan Leaf. It bills itself instead as an emotional brand.
“Australia is a perfect market as a next step off to Europe. And the Born is an option also fits perfectly to the market because it’s a car which makes fun to drive is a sporty setup of the car,” Tietz says.
“So we try to tune the car in a way that driving makes fun that drives like a go-kart and that people can enjoy the car, especially in the urban environment.”
Australia is actually the first market outside of Europe for the electric Born, and the variant to be offered in Australia will feature a large 82kWh battery.
“So we think that the longest range makes sense to for the introduction of electric cars, because people are always concerned about range,” Tietz says.
“But in the future, if people are asking for just use case in an urban environment with short travel distances, then then we think we can do that,” says Werner.
The car is not yet available for driving reviews in Australia because small changes are still to be made in regard to seatbelts and crash regulations.
See also: Cupra Born first impressions: Edgy electric hatch fills long-range gap
And look out for the latest episode of The Driven podcast which focuses on the Cupra born.