2025 Cupra Leon facelift revealed, Sportstourer confirmed for Australia!

The facelifted Cupra Leon has debuted with a revised look – as the brand confirms the Sportstourer wagon will finally reach Australia.

First previewed in June 2022, the mid-life update for the Leon follows recent revisions applied to the related Volkswagen Golf, Skoda Octavia and Audi A3.

It was unveiled alongside a similar update to its Cupra Formentor sibling, with both vehicles from the Spanish brand also benefiting from new plug-in hybrid technology and an updated infotainment system.

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The facelifted Leon hatch will launch in Australia in around 12 months' time – alongside the updated Formentor – while the Leon Sportstourer will follow in mid-2025.

While the Leon hatch will continue to be available in four variants – V, VZ, VZe and VZx – the Sportstourer will be restricted to the plug-in hybrid VZe and VZx in Australia.

The Leon Sportstourer VZx is all-wheel drive and boasts identical power to the Volkswagen Golf R and Audi S3, unlike the less-powerful, front-wheel-drive VZx hatch that shares more in common with the Golf GTI Clubsport.

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It will be an indirect successor to the Golf R wagon, which was axed in Australia at the end of 2023 due to low sales.

“[Sportstourer] is a niche but interesting to Cupra. We don't need to chase volume – can choose our own territory. Will be fairly limited volume but we're prepared to be surprised! Wagons still perform fairly well in New Zealand,” said Cupra Australia's head of product and marketing Jeff Shafer.

The front end of the Leon hot hatch and wagon receives the most notable styling change, introducing a 'shark nose' face that ties it more closely to the upcoming Raval, Tavascan and Terramar models – and better differentiates the Cupra from the Seat Leon that it is based on.

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Cupra's logo moves from the grille to a more pronounced bonnet for a more aggressive look overall, while the Leon adopts a new tri-triangular headlight treatment.

At the rear, the main revision is the Cupra logo now being integrated into the horizontal tail-light bar, while there are also revisions to the lower bumper.

Two new exterior colour options have been added: Century bronze and enceladus grey.

Cupra has fitted a larger 12.9-inch touchscreen – up from 12-inch – with an improved infotainment system that aims to aims to address criticisms of the current set-up.

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Improvements include a more intuitive interface – especially for the climate control – and illumination for the touch-sensitive temperature and volume sliders for better usability in low-light environments.

Material quality has been lifted in the Leon’s cabin, and there's a subtle tweak to the centre console design. A 12-speaker, 425-watt Sennheiser audio system becomes a new option.

Like the new Formentor VZx – and the related Volkswagen Golf R and Audi S3 – the all-wheel-drive Leon Sportstourer VZx moves to a 245kW turbo petrol that now has its outputs distributed to all four wheels via a torque-splitter arrangement rather than the previous Haldex system, and gains a Drift mode.

Cupra says it also features Akebono brakes, but it's currently unclear whether these are standard or optional.

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The front-drive Leon VZx hatch will retain its existing 221kW/400Nm setup, which is identical to the Volkswagen Golf GTI Clubsport offered in Europe.

There are improvements for the plug-in hybrid Leon VZe – set to be available in hatch or wagon form in Australia – with power increasing from 180kW to 200kW and its electric-only range almost doubling from 67 kilometres to "more than" 100km courtesy of a larger 19.7kWh battery, up from 12.8kWh.

Cupra says its charging capability also improves to 50kW with the addition of DC fast-charging capability, in addition to the 11kW AC home charger support available in the pre-facelift model.

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Cupra's local deliveries are currently down nearly 30 per cent year to date after a relatively huge year of growth in 2023, though it expects to match or slightly better last year's result by the end of 2024.

The brand has a massive product year in 2025 with the arrival of multiple models, with the facelifted Leon and the Leon Sportstourer wagon set to be joined by the updated Formentor crossover.

In addition, it will also launch the Tavascan electric SUV and the Audi Q3-based Terramar midsize SUV, which is set to be the last combustion-engined Cupra before the brand goes all-electric by the end of the decade.