Monday 5th March 2018

Cupra e-Racer: Geneva 2018

A 670hp racing car is certainly more interesting than a go-faster SUV...

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It's probably fair to say that the launch of the Cupra brand hasn't been all that well received thus far; the release of cars familiar from the old SEAT days (plus a Cupra model that isn't under the Cupra brand) not helping the cause. So Cupra has done the one logical thing guaranteed to get some positive attention, and created a really powerful racing car.

The Cupra e-Racer is, as you might expect, powered by electricity, which the people at Cupra claim makes it the first EV touring car in the world. It has peak power of 670hp and a continuous power possibility of 400hp, which is more than the current TCR car.

Beyond that there are precious few details yet, although the car looks far more enticing as an EV racing prospect than anything we've seen so far. Wide, low and super aggressive, it makes the other hatchback-based touring cars look rather apologetic. If you then associate a car that looks like this with the new badges plonked on both grille-less nose and rump you'll soon have people passionately behind Cupra - right?

Whether the Cupra e-Racer is a feasible motorsport project we don't know, though Cupra should arguably be applauded for attempting something different and announcing itself to the world (again) with something actually exciting. Would you watch electric touring cars? Will the motorsport world accept electric touring cars? Over to you...

[iwantcheese5]

I've been waiting for an electric touring car series for a while now. Being able to race them on Formula E style tracks would be great advertising for manufacturers and it's a way of making normal electric cars sexy.

A lot more "car people" would be interested in the Leaf, Zoe, and whatever else is out there if they had seen them being spanked around a race track. It would help to make the image of electric cars more sporty and less eco biased. Plus they should actually be pretty good for tight technical circuits that focus on low speed acceleration.

Seems like a no brainer to me and would make a great support series for Formula E (saves on closing roads more than once).