Cupra has plans to be bigger than Porsche, Land Rover and Alfa Romeo thanks to an onslaught of fresh product in the coming years

Australia officially has a new car brand in the country with Volkswagen Group’s Cupra now launched, but the Spanish marque already has plans for expansion even before cars are delivered to customers.

Cupra Australia is targeting 1600 sales this year with three models at launch – the Formentor, Leon and Ateca – but with the Born electric car, Tarramar, Tavascan and UrbanRebel earmarked for the near future, the Spanish brand hops to increase its sales by nearly 450% to 7000 units over the next three years.

And if Cupra Australia can achieve its goals, it will be bigger than more established brands like Alfa Romeo (618 sales in 2021), Genesis (734), Land Rover (6469), Mini (3579), Peugeot (2805) and Porsche (4428).

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In fact, 7000 annual sales could even rival Volkswagen Group’s own Skoda, which managed a 9185 tally in 2021, as well as closing in on the likes of Renault (7099), Lexus (9290) and Jeep (7762).

Cupra Australia’s first cars will begin deliveries in early August, and the brand has already confirmed MY23 pricing and specification changes for its launch line-up.

Next year will also see the launch of its first all-electric model Down Under with the Volkswagen ID.3-related Born arriving in Q1 to take on EVs like the Nissan Leaf, Tesla Model 3 and Polestar 2.

The Terramar, Tavascan and UrbanRebel will then arrive from around 2025 and, with the latter two being EVs, ties into Cupra’s plans to be an all-electric brand by the end of the decade.

Facelifted versions of the Formentor, Born and Leon have also surfaced, and are expected to also arrive in the coming years, while the Terramar could be a replacement for the Ateca SUV that has no direct successor confirmed.

But Cupra’s expansion won’t just come from new product, as its initial retail footprint of nine outlets will expand to 15 locations in 2023.

While the initial batch of Cupra cars were expected to be handed over to customers in July, a delay in shipping means most cars won’t arrive until early August, but the doors to the brand’s flagship store in Sydney were opened to media and guests yesterday.

The Cupra City Garage on Pitt Street won’t open to the public however, for another few weeks as the brand puts the finishing touches on the new facility with showroom space for its models.

Attending the event, Cupra CEO Wayne Griffiths said Australia plays a crucial role in the brand’s ambitions to spread across the world.

“By heading to Australia, we’re taking the first major step in our globalisation. Australia is a strategic global market for our expansion in Asia Pacific and beyond,” he said.

“Our strategy here is to start with the development of the brand and launch the first product offensive, with the Ateca, Leon and Formentor.

“The born will arrive in 2023, followed by our new heroes, the Terramar, Tavascan and UrbanRebel from 2025.

“We want to be the relevant, cool and desirable brand that combines electric and sporty performance.

“Our ambition is to reach more than five per cent market share in the electric segment in the long-term.”

After six months of trading in 2022, electric car sales have reach 9680 units in Australia, meaning the year-end total could sit at around 20,000 – supply issues notwithstanding.

Five per cent of the EV market is therefore around 1000 units annually.

For context, the Tesla Model 3, Nissan Leaf, Polestar 2, Kia EV6 and Hyundai Ioniq 5 have sold 4653, 226, 562, 294 and 321 units respectively to the end of June 2022 – though many have been severely hampered supply.