The new Cupra Tavascan is a street-legal concept car
Cupra has been an independent brand since 2018. There are no longer the sporty Seat variants. As a brand, especially when you look at the sales figures, logically Cupra is still much smaller than Seat. But where Seat is currently not selling any e-models, we are already standing next to the second E-CUPRA: the Tavascan.
Of course we already know the Born from Cupra, which looks very similar to the ID.3. No wonder, because technically they are the same cars and both on the MEB platform. This Tavascan now also appears on the same platform.
Cupra Tavascan
What’s immediately striking is that the Cupra Tavascan isn’t all that different from the concept car we’ve seen before. Of course, the design is a bit milder. For example, the EV comes with regular lighting, a slightly less extreme front bumper, and regular door handles. Otherwise it is still similar to the concept version. Check out this aggressive hood, for example.
It is a very independent design, as we are now used to. On the front we don’t see a continuous LED strip, but an illuminated Cupra logo. This gimmick can also be found on the back, but there is no way around the LED strip here. That’s not the only special feature of the lighting. The light units themselves now contain triangles meant to refer to this logo.
Inner
Where the Cupra Born is reminiscent of the ID.3 in the interior, the Tavascan is not reminiscent of an ID.4 or ID.5. The extremely distinct design is really of a different order. The center console pops out. With this ‘spine’as Cupra calls it, the Tavascan looks like a real one concept car.
A 15-inch screen triumphs on the dashboard; the largest infotainment screen Cupra has ever used. You can just use Android Auto and Apple Carplay for that, which is nice.
powertrains
You can choose between a 286 hp or 340 hp variant. The latter variant uses not one, but two electric motors and is therefore all-wheel drive. It’s a sporty model, so the 0-100 time of 5.6 seconds is good. This makes the Tavascan slightly faster than the ID.5 GTX with around 300 hp. The all-wheel drive version has a range of 520 kilometers according to the WLTP cycle. The less powerful rear-wheel drive would have a range of 550 kilometers.
Order Cupra Tavascan
The Tavascan can be ordered from the end of this year and the first cars will be delivered early next year. Cupra is ambitious and wants to sell 70,000 Tavascans a year. That would further boost Cupra’s sales figures and put increasing pressure on the return Seat.