‘WE WANT TO TALK ABOUT EXCITING CARS’
Cupra’s strategy boss knows exactly where the brand’s focus should be. Dan Prosser meets him
Antonino Labate wanders through the workshop with the easy, unhurried air of a man who feels at home. He gestures towards the five or six Tcr-specification touring car racers in various states of build in neatly organised bays, then stops at the wildest-looking car in the line-up. “This is the e-racer,” he says. “It’s a 670bhp pure-electric touring car that will compete in a dedicated series in 2019. We built this car because electrification is extremely important to us.”
When he says ‘us’, Labate is referring to Cupra. For two decades the name has been used on the fastest and most dynamic cars in Seat’s range. During that time the Spanish manufacturer produced some of the most thrilling hot hatches you could buy and Cupra became a byword for high-performance fun. Now, 22 years since the name first saw the light of day, Cupra is becoming its own brand.
“It was an easy decision to make,” says Labate. “We saw within Seat there were a lot of competencies in terms of motorsport, technology and high-performance road cars, and Cupra has become very well known around the world. That’s why we decided to make Cupra an independent brand.
“It will enable us to take Cupra to the next level. For a long time Cupra has been like a jewel that was not correctly valued. Now we are putting that right.”
The workshop we’re exploring is nestled within Seat’s Martorell factory, 20 miles outside Barcelona. It has long been home to Seat Sport, the competition department that masterminded title-winning campaigns in rallying and racing and has now been rebranded as Cupra Racing . This is where those triumphant Ibiza and Leon competition cars were built, and where they were stripped and refitted between rounds. The technicians who work here, reckons Labate, are as skilled and experienced as they come. “We have a young and very passionate team,” he says. “In this workshop there isn’t a single person who does not love racing. For a long time this workshop was the home of Seat Sport but now it will become the global heart of Cupra.”
The 54-year-old Italian has a youthful energy, and in his sharp suit and striking glasses a definite sense of style. Little wonder he was chosen to head up the new-look Cupra as director of strategy, business development and operations. He is tasked with turning a well-regarded performance sub-division into a globally recognised brand. He certainly has the right background for the job: apart from being a car guy through and through – “I may not be a racing driver, but I love sporty cars” – he also has the necessary professional experience. Before joining the company at the start of 2017, Labate was chief operating officer of Ducati in South America.
Labate may be ideally suited to the role, then, but why is all this happening now? “In terms of growth, Seat’s performance is very good at the moment. There are also no rivals in the market. Right now, everybody else wants to talk about autonomous cars, but we want to talk about exciting cars.”
There would be no new-look Cupra without there first being a clearly defined gap in the market. Over the past 100 years or so the world’s car makers have become so adept at spotting unoccupied niches and hurriedly filling them that it’s a wonder any gaps are left. Nonetheless, Labate is certain Cupra has its place. “The space that we have found is between the mass market and the premium market,” he says. “This is the niche Cupra will occupy as we move it from a trim level to a brand.’ As Labate points out, there are many sub-brands and trim levels throughout the car industry, from manufacturers far
and wide, that slot into the void between the mass and premium markets, but there isn’t a standalone brand that does exactly that.
“We have a clear strategy to achieve our objectives,” he continues. “The main aim is conquest: we want Cupra to bring people into the Seat family from other car makers. We also want the new brand to reflect desirability back onto Seat products and we want it to generate additional profit for the company.”
Cupra will be built upon four pillars. The first, says Labate, is the product. Above all else, Cupra will be a maker of road cars that are fun to drive and a pleasure to own. The second pillar is motorsport: racing is so ingrained in Cupra’s DNA that its very name is derived from the words ‘cup’ and ‘racing’. It would be unthinkable, reckons Labate, for Cupra to not be engaged in motor racing.
The third pillar is the dealerships. There are plans for 260 of them around the world, each attached to an existing Seat outlet but with a dedicated corporate identity plus its own staff and processes. It’s all about creating a unique customer experience, which ties in neatly to the fourth pillar: lifestyle.
“We are creating a completely new world around the brand,” says Labate. “The idea is to create a community for Cupra owners. We will offer lots of exclusive experiences to our customers, such as track days, where they can drive their own Cupra on circuit and experience a Cupra racing car from the passenger seat. But that is just a small part of it. To give you an idea of how broad the lifestyle aspect of Cupra will be, we are also collaborating with a number of artists who interpret the excitement of racing in different ways. We will also offer merchandise, from jackets and glasses to electric bikes. The idea is that Cupra buyers will feel like they are part of something very special.”
Seat’s objective is to double sales of Cupra road cars to about 50,000 units a year. It’s early days, but the response so far has been very encouraging. “We are very happy,” he says. “The public reaction when we launched Cupra at the Geneva motor show in March was very positive and our dealers are extremely excited.
“Over the next four years we will launch seven new Cupra models. You can see from the e-racer that we believe electrification will be the future of racing, but also of performance road cars. We will unveil our first hybrid model in 2021 and, some time after that, our first pure-electric road car.”
The first Cupra model will be the highperformance version of the Ateca SUV, as driven on page six of this supplement. Unveiled at the Geneva show back in March, it is, says Lebate, the perfect model to kickstart the Cupra era, not least because it’ll sprint to 62mph from rest in just 5.4sec, thanks to its four-wheel drive powertrain.
“There is no rival for this car which means it will be unique in the segment,” he says. “SUVS are extremely popular, so the Ateca will help bring new customers to the brand.”
As well as kickstarting the Cupra era, the Ateca will also set out the blueprint for all Cupra road cars. According to Labate, it demonstrates the various ways in which a Cupra model will be differentiated from its Seat counterpart.
THE DREAM IS TO BUILD A DEDICATED SPORTS CAR, A MODEL THAT IS EXCLUSIVE TO CUPRA
“Cupras will be distinguished by three main values: uniqueness, sophistication and performance. Uniqueness, because our cars will show off higher levels of craftsmanship and individualisation, which means our customers will be able to reflect their personalities in their cars and also upgrade them over time from a catalogue of parts.
“Next is sophistication: in terms of design, Cupra models will be striking and distinctive. This is very important to our customers. Finally – and this one is very clear – Cupras will be marked out by their performance. They will make use of motorsport solutions, such as specific suspension tuning, wider tracks and powerful engines. They will perform very well on the race track while also being useable every day.
“What is most important, though, is that a Cupra road car will not be born by the normal process. It is not about numbers or a business case. Instead, Cupras will be born out of a passion for racing.”
In Labate, Cupra has found its man. It has a clear and ambitious strategy, too. But if Cupra is going to exist as an independent brand, does it not make sense that it should offer a purpose-built sports car in addition to models based upon Seat’s range? Labate breaks into a beaming smile.
“That is the dream,” he says. “We hope, in a reasonable period of time, to build a dedicated sports car, a model that is exclusive to Cupra. But it is too early to talk about this now. We need to grow the brand, create the foundations, and after that we will have something exciting to show you.”