The CUPRA Formentor, CUPRA's first own car, will make its debut in Geneva

It was in 2018 that CUPRA was announced to the world as an independent brand, with a very clear goal: to give a home to all the models that had previously been sporty variants within SEAT. No sooner said than done. The Ateca became the first product from the Spanish brand’s subsidiary, and this very week we have witnessed its second member, the CUPRA León. However, its presentation not only served to reveal all its details, but also the exact date on which we will meet CUPRA’s first own model, the Formentor.

The Spanish brand had already revealed some time ago that it would not only house sporty vehicles based on SEAT models, but would also create models from scratch. With this premise, the Formentor will be the first of many to meet that condition, although this does not exempt it from one day becoming part of SEAT’s model range.

Up to now, CUPRA had shown us several fairly realistic concept cars of the Formentor, a vehicle that shares many traits with the newly presented León. This leads us to believe that the final design of this sporty crossover will not differ much from what we have seen in the prototypes, resulting in an innovative vehicle with the CUPRA essence fully intact.

Its close kinship with the León leads us to assume that the Spanish firm will use the same MQB platform to develop it. If so, the mechanical layout should not stray far from what we already know from the Spanish compact, a model that, let us remember, is offered with up to four engine options, one of them a PHEV, with outputs ranging from 245 to 310 CV.

Bearing this in mind, we are almost certain that the CUPRA Formentor will be offered with the same powertrains. That is, a plug-in hybrid made up of a 1.4 TSI engine producing 150 CV and an electric motor capable of raising total power to 245 CV; and three pure combustion versions represented by the already known 2.0 TSI four-cylinder, which on this occasion would deliver 245, 300 and 310 CV, the latter power range being associated with the 4Drive all-wheel-drive system.

Either way, the upcoming Geneva Motor Show will be the stage chosen by CUPRA to exclusively present this first model developed without having gone through SEAT first. In this way, the CUPRA family is taking shape at a rapid pace, and very soon we will witness other models following the same path as the Formentor.

Technical specifications of this car

CrossoverCUPRA Formentor17 versions · from 39,062 €