Cupra set itself a big goal of achieving 7000 annual sales in 2022. But three years later, bosses say it's not about smashing goals or even speedy growth, it's about longevity.
Cupra has made a U-turn on its previous 7000 annual sales ambition, saying it’s now focusing on “sustainable growth”.
When the Spanish brand launched in Australia in 2022 with a three-model line-up, comprised of the Leon hatch and Ateca and Formentor SUVs, it set itself the target of 1600 sales in the first year and 7000 annually by 2025.
It took fellow Volkswagen Group brand Skoda 12 years in Australia to reach that goal.
By the mid-point of this year, however, Cupra had sold 1614 cars locally, up 40 per cent year-to-date, led by the Formentor.
In 2024, it sold 2339, down from the 2023 high of 3765. In the year of launch, it managed 1111 local sales.
Speaking at the launch of the new Cupra Terramar medium SUV last week, Head of Product Jeff Shafer said it’s “not about accelerating too quickly”.
“I think that what we want is to have growth that is sustainable growth driven by good customer experiences,” he told Drive.
“So whilst we want to keep growing over time, it's not about accelerating too quickly, because sometimes that can trip you up, I think.
“This year we're up 40 per cent, so we’re having strong momentum at the moment. That's what we would want to be continuing to see.”
Erdem Kizildere, Director of Sales for International Markets at Seat and Cupra, told media, including Drive, that the brand expects to achieve its 10,000th sale by the end of this year, and hit the one million mark globally by the end of the third quarter.
“Australia is basically following the global markets with a couple of years of lag time. So we would like to maintain this double digit growth,” he said.
“I would like to hope that we maintain that growth trend in the upcoming years as well, but we are not obsessed with it.
“This is a very important market for the brand because it's a very competitive place. From the beginning, our logic was that if we can make it here with more than 70 brands participating, we can make it everywhere.”
Cupra currently has 15 showrooms, with plans to expand to 19 in the coming months.
Around 45 per cent of its sales are of electric or hybrid vehicles, compared to a market average of 10 per cent.
In addition to the new Terramar, Cupra sells the Leon hatch, Ateca and Formentor SUVs, as well as the Tavascan electric SUV.
A born-and-bred newshound, Kathryn has worked her way up through the ranks reporting for, and later editing, two renowned UK regional newspapers and websites, before moving on to join the digital newsdesk of one of the world’s most popular newspapers – The Sun. More recently, she’s done a short stint in PR in the not-for-profit sector, and led the news team at Wheels Media.
