Is America ready for the fastest growing car brand in Europe?
Quick: Name the fastest growing car brand in Europe over the last six years. If you said Cupra, congratulations, you’re correct. If you’ve never heard of Cupra and have no idea why it’s eyeing an American launch by 2030, this episode of The InEVitable is for you, as Jonny and I chat with the President of Cupra, Wayne Griffiths, about his career in the automotive industry and plans to storm the USA with the sporty Spanish brand owned by the Volkswagen Group.
Fans of European racing will know Cupra as the motorsports offshoot of Seat, the Spanish automotive brand VW Group acquired in 1986. Cupra is a portmanteau of cup racing, and was first applied to a special rally-inspired Seat Ibiza model (the Ibiza GTI 2.0 16V Cupra Sport) in 1996. Rally racing and street legal homologated hot hatches helped grow the one off into the brand’s performance line, with Cupra badges on the hottest of Seat Leon hot hatches.
Fast forward to 2018, when Griffiths, then Seat’s head of sales and marketing, was named president of Cupra to help spearhead the launch of the standalone, youth-oriented brand. By leveraging its motorsports heritage, sharp styling, and “we’re not for everyone” attitude, Cupra has been quick to take European market share, not just from Toyota, Nissan, BMW and Benz, but within the VW Group as well, specifically the Golf/GTI model lines.
As you can tell from the video, we’re not in our normal, or even temporary, studio for this interview. We chatted with Griffiths, a Brit with decades of experience at the VW Group, in his expansive suite in the Conrad Hotel, the base of operations for his first American exploration that included a meeting with Penske Automotive Group, a potential partner for Cupra’s U.S. launch. Over the course of a very entertaining hour, Griffiths explains why Cupra has been so successful in Europe, why he wants to launch in America, and whether the edgy performance brand will be exclusively battery-electric.
If you’re one of the many that fears a future of boring, soul-less EV pods, Cupra’s American intentions should give you hope. Watch the podcast right here, or on our YouTube channel. If audio is your thing, you can listen here or wherever you get your podcasts. If you like it, please tell your friends, share us on social media, like the video, and don’t forget to give us a five-star review.
