Many of us were surprised when Cupra presented the Ateca as its first model. It made a lot of business sense but left aside the brand’s regulars: young people who are passionate about compact sports cars. The philosophy had turned towards a more sophisticated and transgressive client, with a modern but mature lifestyle. It seems that they have hit the nail on the head and the success of the Cupra Ateca, launched a couple of years ago, proves it. Now it is the turn of the most anticipated member of the family: the Cupra León. It was presented on February 20 in style, with the inauguration of the venue included. The headquarters of this new Seat firm is located in Martorell and calls itself Cupra Garage .
The Cupra León starts, of course, from the Seat model and has the same dimensions as its less ‘thug’ cousins. It will also be available in a 5-door body and a Sportstourer station wagon but, unlike the standard model, it is 25 millimeters lower on the front axle and 20 mm lower at the rear. This detail, which seems insignificant, is vital to offer purer, sporty and sensory driving sensations.
It is not a sporty variant of Seat, the Cupra León is a model by itself. Hence, its offer of engines is not satisfied with a single block, but with four propulsion options. The 2.0 TSI gasoline versions will have powers of 245, 300 and 310 horsepower , the latter being an exclusive option for the family body. Electrification has also come to the door of Cupra, which will market a plug-in hybrid variant (PHEV) with 60 kilometers of electric autonomy and an environmental label 0 emissions.
The development of sports cars for the street is essentially based on racing. Cupra knows that and that is why it has devised a parallel strategy with its competition models, which were also presented that same day. The Cupra León Competition will be in charge of representing the brand in the tourism championships, a car that we are talking about due to the curious manufacture of some of its parts. The e-Racer will compete in the Pure e-TCR , a championship that will start in 2021 and that will feature this 680 horsepower and 960 Nm of torque car.
