SEAT’s Cupra brand gets to stand on own four wheels – but how will it really fare?

SEAT has become the latest manufacturer to spawn an off-shoot brand.

Cupra, hitherto the name used for SEAT’s performance cars, has become an independent division, with the first model, the Cupra Ateca, a 300 PS all-wheel drive crossover, due here towards the end of the year.

It does rather begs the question, why? Recent efforts by mainstream manufacturers to launch separate brands – think Ford’s Vignale or Citroen’s DS – have hardly been overwhelming successes.

On the face of it, SEAT is performing strongly. For five years in a row it has broken its own global sales record, achieving a 46pc growth in that time and selling 468,000 last year.

It also boasts one of the freshest line- ups of any manufacturer, with its recent Ateca, Arona and Ibiza models all highly regarded offerings.

Furthermore, its warm-performance FR and more hardcore Cupra models have restored the sporty image associated with the brand.

So why risk losing that identity – and in effect damage the mainstream SEAT brand – by spinning off Cupra into a separate division?

“We’re looking for customers that would not normally buy SEAT,” chairman Luca de Meo said at the launch of the Cupra brand in Sitges, Spain.

Which is almost certainly the objective of every car chairman the world over, but SEAT believes it can double the sales of 10,000 Cupras it recorded last year to around 10pc of overall sales.

But can what is – initially at least – a rebadging exercise really impress potential buyers?

We will have to wait until 2020 before three new unique Cupra models appear. Until then, Cupras will be based on current SEATs. Following the launch of the Cupra Ateca (pictured) we’re likely to see (though it’s not formally confirmed) Cupra Arona and Cupra Ibiza models next year too.

Meanwhile, until the next-generation Leon arrives, the current Leon Cupra will continue as a SEAT, albeit with bronze rather than chrome badging.

So why not wait for three years until those new models are ready?

Dr Matthias Rabe, SEAT’s R&D boss, told Independent Motors he believes now is the right time to launch the new brand.

“SEAT has more than 40 years’ motorsport experience. We also have 20 years of Cupra, and therefore it’s not new, not an experiment on the product side,” he said.

“We can now combine in a more visible way the motorsport and Cupra parts and make them into the same brand,” Dr Rabe added.

Selected dealers with qualified personnel will sell the Cupra brand in separately branded showrooms.

Expect no more than two or three Cupra dealerships in Ireland.

The Cupra Ateca will be the first performance crossover competing in this price segment of the market.

Which gives it a unique selling point – and in fairness that’s not a bad way to launch a brand.

Ultimately you can see this as an opportunity for SEAT to expand within the limitations of the Volkswagen Group hierarchy.

A Seat Leon Cupra is unlikely to be allowed to offer more equipment or be more expensive than a Volkswagen Golf GTi, for instance.

But a Cupra Leon, on the other hand, might just give the Spanish manufacturer some more leeway within the wider VW group.

And if, as is the plan, you develop a whole range of products and accessories around the brand, as well as push the motorsport angle, then maybe, just maybe, this could be a seller.

Watch this space.