Cupra's First Self-Designed Car Is A Lowered SUV With A Coupe Roof Line
Seat spin-off Cupra has just launched its second model – and the first to be designed in-house rather than simply being re-badged.
It’s called the Formentor. This plug-in hybrid SUV embodies Cupra’s slightly left-field approach to design, blending a lower ride height and a coupe-style roof line in tandem with a five-door hatchback layout. It’s a bit stuck between genres, like the old Infiniti EX. Remember that?
Power comes from a petrol-electric powertrain whose wider details are still secret. We know that peak power is 242bhp and that the car will be able to drive up to 31 miles on electric power alone. We also know that there’s a “differential lock” to play with, suggesting it’s front-wheel drive with the excellent VAQ technology.
Interestingly, it looks a similar size to the Cupra Ateca but has less power. We’ll have to wait to find out its position in the fledgling Cupra range.
Still officially a concept, but very obviously in near-production spec, the Formentor will crown Seat’s stand at the Geneva Motor Show in early March. Highlights that might not make it past the bean-counters are carbon-backed sports bucket seats trimmed in leather. The 10-inch widescreen media interface should make the cut, though, while it’s perfectly plausible that the main instrument cluster could transition into a second all-digital display, as shown in the pictures.
The concept has a DSG twin-clutch transmission. It’s not yet known whether Cupra will be given the tech to be able to offer plug-in hybrid drive with a manual gearbox. Look out for more details when it takes the stand in Geneva in a couple of weeks.
Comments
The rear looks quite good.
Hey look, a new car, and woah it’s sporty with lower suspension from factory!
It even has a powerful engine, that’s sick!
But what is this? It’s an SUV?
Now that’s definitely something completely new!
I’m so glad we can expect yet another SUV to be on sale, I was already worrying they would die out! Phew!
they should reduce wheel size and lower it even further
Lowered SUV? 241 bhp hybrid with four (probably fake) exhausts.
…
Thanks for this practical new car, Cupra 👌
An SUV with a lowered roof line ans lowered suspension. There used to be lots of these. They called them cars!
That has to be a mistake! Weren’t cars those dangerous, unsafe metal boxes that luckily got replaced by the SUV? Surely that couldn’t have been a good concept, right ? Practical, cheaper and much better looking, who would want that ?
Looks like it’s worth a couple hundred bucks alright
So… yet another vanilla crossover only slightly different from all the other ones?
It looks identical to the Alfa Romeo stelvio
So Cupra (a Name that’s associated with fast Seats) lowers and flattens a SUV (something thats supposed to be riding
high and tall) that is surely based on the Golf Plattform (something that’s Compact-ish, slow-ish and relatively low to the ground).
Where does this story make sense?
Volkswagen AG are quickly repeating history and heading toward disaster like General Motors did in the early 90s and mid 2000s.
In terms of general consumer cars, Volkswagen have VW, Audi, Seat, Cupra and Skoda. They all share the same platforms, the same engines, are starting to share the same interior bits (Skoda and Seat having identical interiors), share light housings and the list goes on, like GM did with Chevrolet, Oldsmobile, Pontiac and (old) Cadillac.
If they keep on pushing out cars like this that compete with themselves, they’re going to be in trouble sooner rather than later.
Throw in a crisis of some sort and it will happen. History NEVER repeats itself… ever…
Lol