CUPRA ATECA AND POLESTAR 1
Launching an all-new start-up to take on the establishment is a risky business, but not if you’re already part of the establishment. That’s what Cupra, Seat’s new performance arm, and Polestar, Volvo’s standalone high-end brand, are doing.
The Cupra name has been around for decades and appeared on a number of hot Seats, giving it the necessary badge kudos for Seat to branch it off as a dedicated brand. Along with a quirky new logo, the brand’s first model – the Ateca – gets a 296bhp 2.0-litre petrol engine and
four-wheel drive to help it stand out from the more humdrum Seatbadged version of the SUV.
The Spanish car maker also plans a bespoke Cupra model, a compact crossover that will be revealed in the spring. Confusingly, the Leon Cupra hot hatch is still on sale with Seat badges, but building a stand-alone brand takes time, and in the next few years, Cupra will expand to include more models. Whether or not the separation will make sense to buyers remains to be seen, but for the time being, the Seat and Cupra brands still feel very closely aligned.
There should be less confusion when Polestar’s first model, the 1 coupé, is launched on to the market this year. It might share a family resemblance with Volvo’s range of sensible saloons, SUVS and estates, but this is no badge-engineering exercise, with a 592bhp hybrid powertrain propelling it and a unique body that makes extensive use of carbonfibre. Alongside this, a saloon – the Polestar 2 – will make its debut at this year’s Geneva motor show and a Polestar 3 coupé-suv has also been confirmed.
The 2 and the 3 will be fully electric and aim to cut a piece of Tesla’s pie for the brand. Polestar will also offer Volvo’s innovative subscription service. There are just two main hurdles that UK buyers may struggle to get over. The first is that the 1 is left-hand-drive only, for now. The second is that it’ll cost £135,000, putting it in the realms of some serious luxury models and supercars. There’s ambition by the bucketful here, but it remains to be seen if the Geely-owned brand can establish itself with the technical might and long-standing heritage of brands such as Porsche and Bentley.