Cupra News

Feel like there’s suddenly a whole lot of new car brands with logos you don’t even recognise.

Volkswagen Group has become the top-selling EV brand in Europe, overtaking Tesla, through the first 10 months of 2025, according to an article in AutoNews.

This hatch is gone for now, but is it gone for good?

Family cars don’t need to be boring.

Cupra is adding plug-in hybrid power to its family SUV.The Terramar VZe is due to arrive in November with a starting price of $77,990 before on-road costs.This puts it at about a $10,000 premium over the purely petrol-powered Terramar VZ, snd slighly more expensive than the fully electric mid-size Tavascan SUV-Coupe.The Terramar VZe brings potent performance with the combo of a feisty turbo-petrol engine and electric motor, but with fuel sipping hybrid credentials and a long electric-only driving range.It is packed full of standard equipment with next to no optional extras.The Terramar VZe is a PHEV that combines a petrol engine combined with an electric motor.20-inch Hadron black and copper alloy wheelsLED headlights10.25-inch driver displayHead-up display12.9-inch media screenSat nav12-speaker Sennheiser stereoThree-zone climate controlHeated front seatsPower front seatsLeather upholstery in Deep BurgundyMultifunction steering wheelProximity unlockingWireless Apple CarPlay and Android AutoWireless phone chargingDigital radioPower tailgate with kick sensorPanoramic sunroof: $2000Auto emergency brakingBlind spot warningFront cross traffic alertRear cross traffic alertAdaptive cruise controlLane keeping assistanceTraffic sign recognition360 degree cameraFront and rear parking sensorsSeven airbagsGlacier WhiteTimanfaya GreyFiord BlueMidnight blackDark VoidGraphene GreyCupra covers the Terramar VZe with a five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty

There is a new cut-price plug-in hybrid in town.

Cupra's new car to be its most affordable

Cupra's anti-SUV collection is heavily updated for 2026.

Cupra is clearly feeling a bit bullish, having delivered 9000 cars in Australia since the brand’s launch just three years ago.And confidence is high that the 10,000th Cupra will be delivered here before the end of 2025.Cupra execs recently revealed a bit of forward product information, and it's good news for petrol-heads.Cupra’s sales manager for international markets, Erdem Kizildere, told Carsguide: “We will continue to offer ICE for as long as the European Union allows it.”“ICE is the driver’s friend,” he added, “We must offer ICE for as long as we can. The petrol-heads have spoken.”Head of Cupra product in Australia, Jeff Shafer, confirmed that view, even admitting that plug-in hybrids might still be finding their way in this country.“PHEV might be a bit of a slow burn. It’s becoming a better understood part of the Australian market. Sometimes the market needs to define itself,” he said.That starts with the new Cupra Leon which will be on sale in October this year.The range will start with the S model with 110kW which suggests the new-gen 1.5-litre turbo-motor with 250Nm of torque as well.There’ll also be a VZX version of the Leon with 245kW of power for what should be epic performance and a Sports-tourer variant with a fairly conventional station-wagon layout (hooray) in VZE (a new trim level) boasting a plug-in hybrid driveline with 200kW at its disposal.The first quarter of next year will also see a flood of new Cupra models, including an all-new Leon hatchback model in VE trim and a 150kW plug-in driveline.The Born EV model is set to make a return to Aussie showrooms early next year, too.This news comes at a time when Cupra – along with the rest of the car-making world – appears to be walking back the timeline for an all-electric future.While rumours have been floating around that the new Terramar might just be the last conventionally powered Cupra, management now seems to be pouring cold water on those.

We’ve now reached the halfway point of 2025 and new vehicle sales are a little cooler than they were last year.According to VFACTS, a total of 608,811 new vehicles have been sold in the first six months of 2025, which is down 3.7 per cent year-on-year.The following is a breakdown of the brands that have experienced the biggest amount of sales growth or decline in the first half of 2025.We’ve only included mainstream and select premium brands in this story, because while niche luxury brands like Rolls-Royce and Bentley may have experienced a large change in sales growth or decline, they come from a much lower base.This Chinese brand has been surging up the sales charts ever since returning to Australian shores in 2023.Chery’s biggest seller by far this year has been the cut-price Tiggo 4 Pro (7996 sales YTD). Its crown of the cheapest SUV in Australia was recently snatched by the Indian-made Mahindra XUV 3XO.The Chery Tiggo 8 Pro Max was the Chinese carmaker’s model with the biggest growth in sales (1386 sales YTD, up 507.9 per cent), though it’s worth noting this car only launched locally in May 2024.China’s BYD experienced the second highest sales growth in Australia. In fact, in June it was the fifth best-selling brand.BYD’s best-seller was the popular Shark 6 plug-in hybrid (PHEV) ute (10,424 sales). It was actually the fourth best-selling ute in June, behind the Ford Ranger, Toyota HiLux and Isuzu D-Max.Another BYD model that has experienced a huge surge in sales is the Sealion 6 PHEV (4375 sales YTD, up 807.7 per cent), though this car only launched in May 2024.Mini’s sales growth comes from a considerably lower base than Chery and BYD, but its year-to-date sales are still up 80.4 per cent year-on-year.The Mini Countryman is one of the biggest reasons for the brand’s sales growth. A total of 1135 examples were sold in the first six months of 2025, which is up 155.1 per cent year-on-year.From an overall year-to-date sales volume perspective, however, the Mini Cooper did outsell the Countryman, with 1181 examples sold. This is up 52.2 per cent year-on-year.Cupra has slowly but steadily been increasing its sales in Australia since it launched in 2022.The Formentor SUV has been the brand’s best-seller since it arrived, with 909 examples sold in the first half of 2025. This is up 50.0 per cent year-on-year.The Born hatchback is another model on the rise for the brand, with 309 examples sold in the first half of 2025. This is up 19.3 per cent year-on-year.Polestar has a low sales base compared to rival brands in Australia, but it has picked up in the first half of 2025.The recently introduced Polestar 4 is currently the brand’s best-seller with 676 examples sold so far this year.However, only 396 examples of the Polestar 2 were sold in the first half of 2025, which is down 58.3 per cent year-on-year. Only 30 examples of the Polestar 3 were also sold over the same period.Even though the Tesla Model Y was the third best-selling car in June, it didn’t make up for the sales slump the US electric vehicle (EV) brand has been experiencing so far this year.A total of 10,431 examples of the Model Y were sold in the first six months of 2025, which is down 16.7 per cent year-on-year. This is despite the fact it launched in a new-generation guise a few months ago.Sales for the Model 3 also took a nosedive with 3175 examples sold so far this year. This is down 65.0 per cent year-on-year.The French brand doesn’t have a massive sales base in Australia to begin with, but it shrunk further in the first six months of 2025. This is despite the fact it has shaken up its product offerings and introduced more hybrids.Sales for virtually all Peugeots were down year-to-date compared to the same point last year, except for the 408 liftback. A total of 58 have been sold, which is up 48.7 per cent year-on-year.Overlooking the Peugeot 508 (2 sales YTD, down 94.6 per cent) which has been axed locally, the model that took the biggest hit in sales volume was the 2008 (111 sales, down 61.1 per cent).This Korean brand formerly known as SsangYong has been going through its second rebrand in two years and it has clearly taken a hit to its sales so far in 2025.KGM’s current best-seller has been the Musso dual-cab ute for a considerable amount of time now, however only 1131 examples were sold in the first half of 2025, which is down 44.2 per cent year-on-year.The model that saw the sharpest downturn in sales is the Korando. Only 79 examples have been sold year-to-date, which is down 71.0 per cent year-on-year.Without taking the Fiat Professional commercial vehicle brand into consideration, this Italian brand only sells small hatchbacks.A total of 207 examples of the Fiat 500 and Abarth counterparts were sold in the first half of 2025. This is down 28.6 per cent year-on-year.While sales for the regular Fiat brand are slowing, sales for the Fiat Ducato (sold under Fiat Professional) have been booming. A total of 708 examples were sold in the first half of 2025, which is up 32.8 per cent year-on-year.Local sales for the Czech brand have been sliding for a few years now, but there are new and refreshed products in the pipeline which will potentially pump up the sales numbers in the coming months.Sales for Skoda’s best-seller, the Kodiaq SUV, have remained steady in the first half of 2025 despite just launching in new-generation guise. A total of 688 examples were sold, which is down 2.4 per cent year-on-year.All Skoda models experienced a downturn in sales in the first half of 2025 compared to the same period last year. The model with the biggest decline is the Scala hatchback (76 examples YTD, down 67.7 per cent).