Cupra Born vs Renault Scenic E-Tech

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.

What’s 15 years between friends? Well, in this instance quite a lot because this is the all-new, pure-electric Renault Scenic E-Tech small-medium SUV.

The Renault Scenic we knew here until the late noughties was a petrol-powered, five-seat family car or an upright, seven-seat people mover.

But this is an altogether sleeker proposition, priced and specified to compete with other electric SUVs like the BYD Sealion 7, Hyundai Elexio, Kia EV5, Skoda Elroq and Zeekr 7X.

So, could this fresh Euro contender have what it takes to steer you away from such an impressive set of pure-electric competitors?

We attended its local launch to find out.