SEAT confirms Cupra will become separate brand
SEAT teases new Cupra performance brand in video ahead of full reveal on 22 February.
Khodrocar - SEAT has issued first official confirmation that it intends to spin off its Cupra performance division into a separate brand in its own right.
As Auto Express revealed late last year, the marque plans to expand the line-up of faster vehicles and badge them purely as Cupras. The firm released a teaser video this week showcasing the same logo which we reported SEAT had applied to register last year.
A release accompanying the video said the new brand – "Cupra as its own entity” – will be revealed in full on 22 February. Significantly, the logo uses a copper colour similar to that seen on some details of the recent limited-edition Leon Cupra R.
The next model to carry the Cupra badging will be the Ateca SUV, likely to appear at March’s Geneva Motor Show. But SEAT’s board member with responsibility for research and development, Dr Matthias Rabe, has previously admitted he could see hybrid Cupras in future.
"Cupra and electrification is not a contradiction,” he said. "I could see a Cupra as an electrified car – and we have something in mind.”
SEAT isn’t the first brand to separate its performance arm off as its own brand; in 2007 Abarth was launched as an independent unit from Fiat. The man in charge of the company at the time was Luca De Meo, the current boss of SEAT.
Source: AutoExpress
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