Cupra eyes U.S. market, says brand head

Cupra began as a performance sub-brand of Volkswagen Group's Spanish brand SEAT, but reemerged in 2018 as an independent brand offering its own range of sporty and emotional vehicles with striking designs.

Cupra operates primarily in Europe, but has already entered some international markets, including Mexico and other Latin American countries. In the future, the U.S. could join Cupra's list of international markets.

At Cupra's launch in Australia this week, brand boss Wayne Griffiths said Cupra is considering a North American launch as part of its global expansion, but has not yet made a decision, local publication Drive reported.

"We haven't made a decision on North America at this point, but we are starting to analyze [the market]," he was quoted as saying.

When asked if Cupra was considering adding China as a market, Griffiths said that other VW Group brands such as Volkswagen, Skoda, and Audi already have a strong presence in China, and as a result Cupra is not yet focusing on the Chinese market, instead preferring North America The company reportedly responded that it still does not place much emphasis on the Chinese market, preferring instead North America, and especially the United States.

"The Volkswagen Group has a pretty dominant share [in China] among the existing brands. 'So are we going to China? Not at the moment. Our priority is the U.S."

Like other volume brands in the VW Group, Cupra relies on a shared platform for its vehicles. The majority of the lineup consists of sporty crossovers, with individual models using a suspension shared with popular VW models such as the Tiguan and ID.4. Cupra also continues to offer tuned versions of SEAT vehicles such as the Ateca and Leon.