New Cupra Tavascan electric SUV revealed

A new European brand is preparing to bring its eye-catching new electric SUV to Australia that’ll go head-to-head with the Tesla Model Y.

2025 Cupra Tavascan.

Cupra has revealed the production version of its new Tavascan EV. The good-looking coupe-styled SUV begins rolling out of a factory in China next year and is scheduled to arrive in Australia in 2025.

It’s the second EV from Cupra, the young Spanish brand established in 2018 and introduced in Australia in 2022. Cupra is part of the VW Group.

The Cupra Tavascan will be the brand’s second electric car.

Though sharing core tech with other EVs from the German giant of the global car industry, the Tavascan’s looks are the work of Barcelona-based Cupra. The EV’s exterior is magnetically muscular and its curvy interior is strikingly original.

Beneath the eye-catching style, though, there are no great surprises. The Tavascan is based on a set of VW Group EV-specific components collectively known as MEB. The first car to use MEB was VW ID.3 hatchback, launched in Europe back in 2019.

The Tavascan will be a mid-size SUV similar in size to a Volkswagen Tiguan.

The Born, Cupra’s first EV and just now reaching Australia, is basically a lightly restyled ID.3. The list of other MEB-based cars is long. It includes the VW ID.4 SUV due to go on sale here before the end of this year, plus models from Audi and Skoda. Later this year Ford, having done a deal with VW Group, will begin producing a new MEB-based model.

Let’s just say this new Cupra will use very well-proven EV technology.

Cupra plans to produce the Tavascan in two basic versions, Endurance and VZ. Both will have a hefty 77kWh lithium-ion battery pack. The Endurance will have a single 210kW electric motor driving its back axle and the VZ will have an extra motor driving its front axle for a total combined power output of 250kW.

It will come in single or dual motor layouts.

The Tavascan VZ will be fast, but not in the same brutally quick league as dual- motor competitors like the Tesla Model Y Performance or Kia EV6 GT. But the Cupra clearly isn’t going to cost as much as these $100,000 scorchers.

It’s likely the Tavascan will be priced in the same $65,000 to $75,000 area currently populated by some of the best-selling EVs in Australia.

“I think it’s too early to give a really final indication,” says Cupra Australia brand director Ben Wilks. “But I think it’s reasonably easy to see how we position the brand overall as to where we put the Tavascan.” He says both the Endurance and VZ versions are being considered for Australia.

It is likely to be priced in the $65,000-$75,000 range.

It’s Cupra’s aim, he says, to place its cars in the space between premium and mainstream brands. With the Born EV priced at around $60,000, the larger Tavascan should not cost very much more, at least not in single-motor Endurance form.

At the official reveal of the Tavascan in Berlin, Cupra said it expects the Endurance to achieve a WLTP-rated driving range of “around 550km”, with the more powerful VZ variant delivering only 30km less.

Plugged into a suitably powerful DC fast charger, the Tavascan will accept up to 135kW. This equates to adding 100km of range in seven minutes, Cupra claims. The Tavascan will offer flexible home charging, via a range of wallboxes. The top-grade wallbox will give the owner remote control of recharging via an app.

While driving, the Tavascan driver will be able to vary the vehicle’s regenerative braking effect with paddles mounted on the steering column.

Cupra is counting on EVs to power its growth in Australia, according to Ben Wilks. Since launching last year, the brand has taken 3000 orders and delivered around two-thirds of them. Its mid-term aim is to be selling 5000 cars a year in Australia, while its long-term goal is 10,000.

“The key to it will be the release of these electrified vehicles,” Wilks says. “The Born now and the Tavascan in future years.”

The exec doesn’t see EVs stunting demand for the plug-in hybrid versions of its Leon hatchback and Formentor SUV. The Formentor is so far Cupra’s bestseller in Australia, and the PHEV version is chosen by around 20 per cent of buyers.

There’s room for PHEV and EV to co-exist, says Wilks.