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Cupra says it is not worried about launching its Tesla Model Y challenger in Australia – due early next year in two model grades – in a cooling electric-car market.
Electric Cars
The first examples of the 2025 Cupra Tavascan electric SUV are not due in Australia until early next year – not December this year as previously forecast – priced from less than $70,000 plus on-road costs.
The second electric vehicle (EV) from VW-owned Spanish brand Cupra in Australia is a mid-size electric SUV pitched as a sportier, more uniquely-styled take on the formula dominated by the Tesla Model Y.
The Tavascan was previously earmarked to arrive in December 2024, but although production will still commence this year, its formal launch has been pushed back into next year.
Examples are due to go on display in showrooms from January, with demonstrators following shortly after, and customer deliveries commencing in late March or early April, pending any delays.
It is due to a slow ramp-up of the production line in China, where the new electric SUV is produced – the first VW Group model built in the world's largest car market for Australia in two decades.
"We just want to take a little bit of time to ramp that out, make sure we can meet all the first customers, and then start deliveries right at the end of quarter one," Cupra Australia director Ben Wilks told Drive.
Cupra Australia spokesman Daniel DeGasperi added: "It's still a significant pull forward [in timing compared] to what it was.
"It makes [the] most sense to launch a car and do a big launch and marketing campaign, PR campaign, closer to when more customers can get them."
Prices are yet to be finalised, but Cupra has advised the entry-grade Endurance will start from less than $70,000 plus on-road costs, with a 210kW electric motor and 534km driving range rating.
The flagship, 250kW all-wheel-drive VZ is planned to start from less than $80,000 plus on-road costs.
It means Cupra will not be the cheapest model in its class, but it will line up against the Tesla Model Y Long Range ($69,900) and Performance ($82,900).
The Tavascan shares its MEB electric-car architecture with the Cupra Born electric hatch ($59,900), as well as the Skoda Enyaq SUV (from $69,990) and inbound Volkswagen ID.5 (prices TBC), among other models sold here and overseas.
Wilks said the company is not bothered about launching its biggest EV yet in an electric-car market that has cooled compared to the rapid growth seen in 2022 and 2023.
"What we want to have is a part of the EV market that is just like the part of the Cupra market that we have more broadly," he said.
"We want to be a player for people who value something that's different, something that's interesting, something that's really got great defining driving qualities.
"That won't be different in the BEV [battery-electric vehicle] market or the ICE [internal combustion-engined, petrol and diesel] market.
"Since Cupra's existed, we've come into interesting and challenging market dynamics around the world, so we're not necessarily afraid of that. We think we've got something to offer anyway."
A list of standard features confirmed thus far for each model variant is below, as well as top-line mechanical specifications.
2025 Cupra Tavascan specifications:
| Tavascan Endurance | Tavascan VZ | |
| Price (est.) | Less than $70,000 plus on-road costs | Less than $80,000 plus on-road costs |
| Drive type | Single-motor, rear-wheel drive | Dual-motor, all-wheel drive |
| Power and torque | 210kW/545Nm rear | 80kW/134Nm front 210kW/545Nm rear 250kW combined |
| Battery capacity | 77kWh usable | 77kWh usable |
| Rated driving range | 534km WLTP | 499km WLTP, standard 463km WLTP, Extreme Package |
| Claimed 0-100km/h | 6.8 seconds | 5.5 seconds |
| Charging power | 11kW AC, 135kW DC | 11kW AC, 135kW DC |
2025 Cupra Tavascan Endurance standard features include:
The optional Interior Package for the Endurance adds:
2025 Cupra Tavascan VZ adds (over Endurance):
Due shortly after launch, the optional Extreme Package for the VZ adds:
Electric Cars Guide
Alex Misoyannis has been writing about cars since 2017, when he started his own website, Redline. He contributed for Drive in 2018, before joining CarAdvice in 2019, becoming a regular contributing journalist within the news team in 2020. Cars have played a central role throughout Alex’s life, from flicking through car magazines at a young age, to growing up around performance vehicles in a car-loving family.
