Cupra Born vs Mercedes-Benz A200

What's the difference?

Electric cars. Australia now has quite a few, and to add more confusion to the mix, there are a litany of all-new brands releasing models into this new frontier of the automotive landscape.

Most new electric cars are in Australia’s favourite buying category, the SUV, but there’s also a ute, some odd sedan-y things, and, of course, a handful of hatchbacks.

Hailing from Spain, the Cupra Born sets itself apart from the rest for a few reasons though. Firstly, it promises to be a hot hatch, something we haven’t really seen much of yet, and secondly, it has to bear the burden of launching Volkswagen Group’s all-electric MEB platform to the Australian market, but most importantly for Australians keen to hop into their first electric car, it promises to do this while offering a long range at a reasonable price.

Can it really do it all? We attended the Cupra Born’s Australian launch to find out.

Meet the world’s most aerodynamically efficient passenger car. Mercedes-Benz says the drag co-efficient for this new sedan version of its fourth-generation A-Class is the lowest ever measured for a passenger vehicle.

Which is quite a claim, but you only have to look at it to see how much work has gone into marrying good looks with slippery aero performance.

The A-Class sedan is substantially longer and fractionally taller than its hatchback sibling, but does that mean it’s better, or simply different?