2023 Cupra Born priced close to $60,000 in Australia with a range of 550km

The first electric car of the new Spanish brand Cupra is set to cost around $60,000, with a range of up to 550km and a 0-100km/h time of seven seconds.

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The Cupra version of the Volkswagen ID.3, Born’s small electric hatchback will target the heart of the petrol hot hatch, with price, driving range and performance on par with select Volkswagen Golf GTIs.

Cupra Australia’s head of product and planning, Jeff Shafer, told Drive This week Born will be launched in Australia in one model class, priced at “$50,000 high or $60,000 low” – targeting the Cupra’s petrol-powered Golf GTI twin, the Leon VZ ($56,990 drive).

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For the money, the buyer will get the largest battery available overseas, a 77kWh package (can be used), powering the rear-mounted electric motor quoting 170kW and 310Nm in the ‘boost’ mode period of 30 seconds.

These numbers put the Born roughly in line with the Cupra petrol-powered Leon VZ hot hatch, which costs $56,990 drive-away (MY22) with a 180kW/370Nm 2.0-liter turbo-petrol engine, front-wheel drive and 6.4 seconds of claim time. 0-100km/hour.

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In city driving, the 556km the Leon VZ claims (from a 50L fuel tank) is nowhere near the Born’s 548km claims in combined driving, where electric cars are less efficient – ​​although both figures are calculated in a lab, not in the real world.

Expect a high level of standard features on the only Born model class – although “there will be several package options”, Shafer has confirmed, according to the Cupra petrol and hybrid models.

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It’s worth noting that the Borns with a 77kWh battery and 170kW motor only offers four seats in Europe – while the version with the smaller battery has five seats. It is unclear how this will be structured in Australia.

DC fast charging of up to 135kW is standard, capable of fast charging to 80 percent in 36 minutes – or adding 100km of claimed range in six minutes.

Cheaper variants of the Cupra Born are available in overseas markets, with smaller 45kWh and 58kWh battery packs producing ranges of up to 347km and 419km, or underpowered 110kW and 150kW electric motors.

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Shafer will not be interested in the expected sales volume for Born – and whether it will play among the most popular in Australia. Non-Tesla EVs, which record around 1000 annual sales.

“I don’t want to be clever, but production is always a problem. Headquarters [is] gave us excellent support in terms of vehicle provision. They have committed to providing what we need, but I probably wouldn’t give it a hard number [sales],” he says.

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Cupra CEO Wayne Griffiths explained, telling the media: “We’re not going to sell a few thousand electric cars [per year] – I don’t see that happening until 2025.

“We made a strategic decision for us that Australia is an important market to prove that we can be a global brand. And when you have made a strategic decision, you have to stick to it, despite the fact that you have other pressures – whether it be by margin better in another market, or you need a car in another market to meet your CO2 targets,” Griffiths told the media.

“Ultimately, I don’t think we’ll ever be able to sell as many electric cars as we can supply, not until 2025 – unless the Australian government makes an awesome EV. [electric vehicle] policy before and suddenly it exploded.

Production from 2023 Cupra Born will kick off for Australia around November, ahead of the arrival of the first showrooms slated for early 2023.

Alex Misoyannis has been writing about cars since 2017, when he started his own website, Redline. He contributed to Drive in 2018, before joining CarAdvice in 2019, becoming a regular contributing journalist on the news team in 2020. Cars have played a central role throughout Alex’s life, from flipping through car magazines as a young man, to growing up. around vehicle performance in the car-loving family.

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