First look in the video: Scout brand reborn as a family of EV pickups and SUVs
Midsize Scout Terra and Traveler EVS will be selling 3 feet of water in 2027, reaching 60 mph in 3.5 seconds and starting at under $60,000.
- Cupra plans to sell “by the end of the decade.”
- The brand has sold over 800,000 vehicles since it was created by VW.
The lesser-known Spanish auto brand focusing on electric vehicles is preparing to sell vehicles in the US. This is a disruption about tariffs, trade and environmental policy.
Barcelona-based Cupra has already been in talks with Penske Automotive Group, the third largest dealer group in the United States with around 200 stores. Penske also operates dealers for dozens of brands, including Capra, in Australia, Germany, Italy, New Zealand and the UK.
“Cupra aims to inspire the United States from his hometown of Barcelona and bring LED designs and performance-driven cars to American roads,” the company said in a statement to the Free Press.
It’s easier than I would say, but Capra has made an impression in the busy European market since the Volkswagen seat brand launched it in 2018. As a result, German VW brass was so large that it withered the talk sheets, replacing the more stylish, profitable and technically advanced Cupra.
EV with hybrid and Latin talent
Cupra sells electric, hybrid and gasoline vehicle mixtures in more than 40 countries, including Mexico. This starts at just under $37,000 in price for a gasoline-powered Leon compact SUV. The brand wants to focus on performance. Kapla was born as the name of the seat racing team.
“Cupra has a respectable supporter, but the challenges in the US market are extremely difficult to overcome,” said Stephanie Brinley, an analyst at S&P Global Principal Automotive. With the vast size and population of the United States, it is expensive to establish a new brand, both geographically and in the minds of shoppers.
Cupra has sold over 800,000 vehicles so far.
The company’s US focus is on sporty, premium EVs and hybrids, but Cupra may also offer internal combustion models to generate volumes of sales and service.
“As the first new brand created within the Volkswagen Group, we offer an alternative to the next generation of US car buyers,” the statement continued. “We are not based on heritage or tradition as we are located between the masses and premium segments. We are an unconventional challenger brand.”
The brand will start with sales that are “strategically lined up with the Cupra brand” in 20 states.
This probably means a condition that promotes EV sales with incentives and emissions restrictions.
“Capra is completely unknown to the US population,” said Adam Bernard, consultant director of Auto Science. “It’s a blank slate. The brand doesn’t overlap with VW or Audi. Does VW want to spend a mountain of money to establish an image for that?”
Cupra executives toured the Los Angeles Auto Show last November to expand the competition. After the first anticipated sales began in 2027, the official goal will be until the end of the decade.
The model line includes gasoline power, hybrids, plug-in hybrids, electric vehicles, and extended range EVs with onboard gasoline-powered generators.
Cupra plans to build vehicles at VW Group facilities in North America. Current options for that include an assembly plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Scout Motors plants under construction in Puebla and South Carolina, Mexico.
Continuous changes to US customs policies will be considered, but the brand will not stop.
“Cupra is closely monitoring development and will comprehensively address the potential impact on supply chains and production networks,” the statement said.
Who sells them?
VW has infuriated many American dealers with plans to sell rugged scout SUVs and pickups directly to consumers.
Brian Gordon, president of Dave Cantin Group, says there are no words yet about Cupra’s sales plans, but the overture to Penske is “evidently an attempt at shortcuts,” and it’s creating a sales network. “Partnerships with a large dealer network will be a strategic beachhead.”
Please contact Mark Phelan: 313-222-6731 or mmphelan@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @mark_phelan. Please read more Auto And sign up for us Automotive Newsletter. Become a subscriber.
