PH Footnote: Why the Cupra R costs so much

SEAT has launched the most powerful Leon ever - but that's not the only reason for its £35K price tag

If you want a measure of how deadly serious SEAT is about its Cupra brand, then you only need to consider the size of the price tag attached to its latest model, the limited-edition R. For a scant 10hp more than standard, a whiff more camber at the front and some additional styling confetti, Martorell has heaved almost £5,000 onto the Leon's starting price.

More than just a expensive hot hatch...

At £34,995, the new model is around £1,600 more expensive than a standard five-door Golf R - arguably the definitive hot hatch of the decade, and a beneficiary not only of four-wheel drive but also the hallowed Volkswagen badge. Of course there's slightly more to that figure than first glance suggests (the most expensive Leon is very well equipped, the Golf less so) but SEAT's unusually ambitious pricing could hardly be more pointed.

If the manufacturer is intent on making Cupra work as a performance sub-brand - a strategic move apparently penciled in for next year's Geneva show - it needs reassuring that people are sufficiently excited by the badge to pay a hefty premium for a car wearing it. Which makes the R less interesting as the most powerful Leon yet built, and more intriguing as a test balloon for what is still to come.

The logic of separating Cupra out from SEAT is well-worn. After decades of loss-making, its parent is at long last in the black - but owes a good part of its success to being fiercely competitive on price with its mainstream rivals. Until recently, this characteristic extended to its hot hatches: the front-drive Leon typically ranking as more powerful than the equivalent Golf GTI - and several thousand pounds cheaper.

Recently, the power advantage has grown (the standard Cupra is over 50hp more fiery than a Performance grade GTI) and the price gap closed. With the R, Martorell has tentatively advanced the notion that the Leon can be made more expensive than even Wolfsburg's hot hatches - albeit cloaked in the exclusivity of a low volume production run (just 24 examples of the range-topper will be coming to the UK).

Expect more from this badge soon

SEAT will need this idea to take hold. "In the past SEAT has been one dimensional. Cupra gives us the opportunity to have another dimension," remarked CEO Luca de Meo at Frankfurt. Given that the Leon is the only model currently badged Cupra, that suggests the spin-off will incorporate more than just hot hatches. A Cupra-badged version of the Ateca is certainly already in the works, and Martorell has recently trademarked Tango, Salsa and Bolero - all previously concept cars.

This suggests that 'Cupra' - also registered with a ferocious new badge - might sustain standalone models in the same way that Polestar is intending to. If so, that'll be for down the line. For now, SEAT could do with its test case model selling out immediately. And for every buyer eschewing a Golf R for the most expensive, powerful Leon ever, expect a Martorell-based executive to be turning cartwheels.

[Source: Autocar]

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