Cupra Ateca safe for now, despite imminent sibling rivalry
While it's new to Australia, the Cupra Ateca is almost due for replacement, and under threat from within – but Cupra's CEO says it's not going anywhere.
The Cupra Ateca medium SUV will remain in showrooms for the foreseeable future, despite its donor car being due for replacement – and two more mid-size SUV models that threaten to cannibalise its sales.
While the 4.38m-long Cupra Ateca is new to Australia, it has been on sale in Europe for four years – and the car it's based on, the regular Seat Ateca, has been marketed overseas for up to six years, and is the second-oldest vehicle in the global Seat line-up.
Despite Cupra now offering the similarly-sized 4.45m-long Formentor medium SUV – and plotting the slightly-larger 4.5m-long Terramar for 2025 – Cupra CEO Wayne Griffiths says there are no immediate plans to phase out today's Ateca.
"For the Cupra Ateca, it's still got a good time to run," Griffiths told Australian media at the launch of Cupra's Sydney CBD showroom last week.
"We've never been able to fulfil the potential of the car; the car has always had twice the demand than the supply," Griffiths said. "We never got the supply – the Ateca has always been [sold out], and the car in great demand.
"So I think in terms of demand, in terms of technology, the car is in great shape. We did a PA, a product improvement [i.e. mid-life facelift] of the car [in 2021] and the Cupra version of the car looks great."
The current Ateca, Formentor and upcoming Terramar are all small to mid-size SUVs, measuring 4.4 to 4.5 metres long, underpinned by the same 'MQB' platform, and sharing a range of four-cylinder petrol engines.
Yet Griffiths maintains the Ateca still has a place in showrooms, as a smaller, less premium entry into Cupra's petrol-powered SUV range – below the sportier Formentor, and more practical Terramar.
"The Cupra Terramar is in a different segment. Tt's a bigger car than the Cupra Ateca in terms of size, and also in terms of its positioning – it will be higher position than where the Ateca [is]," Griffiths said.
"So I think the cars will run in parallel, and the Terramar won't be substitutable – it will be a new car in a different part of the segment."
When asked how Cupra will differentiate the three models to customers come 2025, Griffiths said: "First of all, the Formentor is unique in its segment. It's not difficult to differentiate that because there's no other car on a flat platform that looks like an SUV.
"That's why the car has been such a huge success and why it hit a spot with this fantastic design – so that is a unicorn in itself. And probably the only other thing out there would be the [Porsche] Macan, with that kind of performance in that area.
The Ateca will continue to be in the smaller SUV market – an affordable entry – and the Terramar will be [in a] high position on top. More SUV, a higher car – more of an SUV car than the Formentor.
"So I think the three of them are different enough: the Ateca smaller, the Formentor flatter – also from the driving position – and the Terramar more SUV. So I think they're differentiated enough," Griffiths said.
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