Will Cupra help SEAT finally build an image of its own?
Sporty division might just be what the Spanish maker needs to stand out in the market — or, at least, in its own parent company
Seventy years ago, SEAT was founded by the Spanish state as an attempt to rebuild its economy after World War II while boosting its industrial sector. The long-term goal was to become able to execute the entire process of mass-production car manufacturing, but the country only had experience with the assembly of luxury models of foreign production so far. The company decided to start partnered with an established company, which turned out to be Fiat.
The Italian maker seemed appropriate because it had acquired international expertise working with Simca in France and was doing a good job back home, under the semiprotected market of the 1950s. The partnership got to the point of making SEAT dominate the local market and become one of the best-selling in the continent, but was terminated in 1982 due to Fiat’s inability to provide necessary funding for the subsidiary’s growth and some conflicts of interest.
Why did that become a problem?
After a brief independent time, SEAT was taken over by Volkswagen with the promises of expansion outside Spain and improving the cars’ general quality. Both were fulfilled, indeed, but failed to address an issue which the company carried from birth: weak image. The Spanish models were no longer licensed copies of Fiat’s, but now featured Volkswagen underpinnings and moderately different designs to compete in pretty much the very same market segments.
Over the years, Volkswagen consistently improved SEAT models enough as to no longer look like no-frills variations of its own ones, but that only made the Spanish a direct rival with weaker image and smaller international presence. In times when automakers have to try everything to stand out, the Germans finally started to pay more attention to SEAT a couple years ago: the stronger visual identity seen recently came with a dedicated performance sub-brand.
What can you tell me about Cupra?
Cupra was born in 1985 as SEAT’s motorsport division and competed in rally and touring races. In 1996, it ventured into the urban market as performance trim levels for the Ibiza and the León and got high praise from customers and media. As the cars entered new generations, Cupra’s work kept evolving when it comes to style and performance. Now, the VW Group decided to make it an independent sporty sub-brand, like AMG for Mercedes-Benz to some extent.
The Ateca crossover received the first Cupra treatment under this new phase in 2018. Besides the mandatory exclusive and more powerful tech specs, it got more aggressive body kit, larger wheels, racing-like seats and the brand’s new design identity: SEAT’s logotypes were replaced by Cupra’s and many details come in gray and/or bronze, including the wheels. Since this has been applied to many models, it’s starting to create a sense of unity among the car models.
How is Cupra in nowadays?
Speaking of models, the sub-brand reached a new high point last year, when the Formentor came as its very first exclusive model. Being a coupé crossover while the much more traditional Tarraco is offered only with the SEAT brand shows that the Spanish company is serious about this new division. From now on, we can only expect even sportier models from Cupra while the main brand sticks with family-oriented models. But what about its role in the VW Group?
Fortunately for SEAT, each of its generalist sisters is following a different path. The Volkswagen brand is all about new solutions now, whether for powertrain or mobility in general, and is focused on making its ID line grow. The Chinese Jetta sub-brand is expected to specialize in low-cost models and only in China before any bigger plans. Škoda, in turn, has done a great job with rational cars in several segments and will probably stay like that so as not to get in the way.
What can we expect from SEAT and Cupra?
Now that each brand is shaping a different role for itself, they can all go after different customers instead of competing for the same ones. This is important because the company can expect higher sales in the short term and, once they actually come, think of going each time further with those differences. By the time the current cars reach a new generation, Volkswagen is poised to become a reference among generalist EVs and Cupra among sporty generalist models.
Performance is directly tied to emotion, so it becomes a strong sales argument for almost any car. However, even references such as Peugeot, Renault and the very Volkswagen have never gone as far as SEAT with Cupra. If this enterprise does well, the Spanish automaker might write its own chapter in the history of generalist cars by redefining the importance their image can have. Not bad for an automaker which spent so many years directly dependent on others, right?
