Will Cupra succeed Down Under?

Cupra's copper-coloured badge packs subtle significance that's worth spelling out.

While copper isn't in the same league as other precious metals, it's still valuable, useful stuff. It's up there on the podium - bronze is mainly copper - but below gold and silver.

This symbolises Cupra's position in the market, between traditional premium brands and the mass-production mainstream, explains Antonino Labate. He's the brand's Italian-born business strategy development chief, with previous experience at Fiat and Ducati.

The Cupra name also echoes copper's chemical symbol, Cu, derived from its Latin name of cuprum. Cupra, pronounced coop-rah, is actually a compression of Cup Racing, the designation applied to hot road-going models from the Volkswagen Group-owned Spanish brand Seat since the 1990s.

Cupra grew out of Seat Sport, the company's competition and performance car division, and continues to be active in racing.

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Copper is highly conductive, and electrification is a big part of Cupra's present and future. Later this year it will launch the Born, its first pure EV, in Europe.

Basically a restyled VW ID.3, it'll be produced in Germany. It'll be followed in 2024 by the designed-in-Barcelona Tavascan – another EV based on VW Group's MEB platform. In the meantime, plug-in hybrids loom large in Cupra's model mix.

Almost everything Cupra currently has in production will head to Australia for its planned second-quarter 2022 launch; the Leon hatch, Ateca small SUV and the Formentor compact crossover. The only thing missing, compared to Europe, is the long-wheelbase wagon version of the Leon.

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In production only since late 2020, the Formentor is the freshest Cupra model of them all. It's also the most popular by miles, accounting for two-thirds of the brand's rather modest current sales; only 27,400 in 2020, but growing strongly this year.

Around 40 per cent of Formentor sales in Europe are the front-drive plug-in hybrid versions. Only the more powerful 180kW PHEV will make it to Australia, along with 140kW, 180kW and 228kW purely ICE-powered variants, all with seven-speed DSG transmission and all-wheel drive.

The 228kW Formentor, likely to top the line-up in Australia at around $60,000, is a lively and engaging drive. Its engine is the VW Group's EA888 turbo 2.0-litre four (so familiar to Golf GTI fans), with the same level of tune as in the latest Audi S3.

On challenging roads in the hills west of Barcelona, the top Formentor's drivetrain delivered the kind of crackling performance its sharp-creased styling promises. The firm chassis set-up favours handling over comfort. Its interior is roomy, even in the rear, despite its long-nosed proportions.

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Least costly of the Cupra line-up for Australia will be the Leon hatch, launched early in 2020. It's essentially a Mk8 Golf with flamboyant Spanish style.

There will be a plug-in hybrid, with the same 180kW maximum system output, turbo 1.4-litre four and six-speed DSG as in the Formentor, plus 140kW, 180kW and 221kW turbo 2.0-litre ICE-powered variants. Expect the least powerful of these to be priced around $40,000. All Leons will be front-drive.

While even the 180kW Leon is a properly feisty hot hatch, its very firm suspension calibration seems likely to make it a rough rider on Australian roads. Still, such shortcomings haven't stopped other cars like this succeeding.

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Unlike the Formentor and Leon, the Ateca isn't produced in Seat's big - more than 450,000 cars in 2020 - Martorell factory outside Barcelona. It's a close relative of the Skoda Karoq and rolls off the same assembly line in the Czech Republic. The Ateca shares its roof, door and core body structure stampings with the Skoda SUV. It was launched as a Cupra in 2018.

Only the 221kW version of the Ateca will head to Australia, equipped with a seven-speed DSG and all-wheel drive. Although its interior design is a little dated compared with the other Cupras, the hot Ateca has grip, grunt and a very well-sorted chassis. It should work very well on typical Aussie roads.

Cupra's basic brand proposition is performance – offering tech up to Audi S model levels for little more than VW money, with a dash of Mediterranean flair. The appeal is obvious, but...

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Australia is a graveyard for synthetic brands like Cupra, the result of business plans and marketing strategies. Toyota's Lexus is perhaps the only one to have succeeded. Nissan's Infiniti failed here not once, but twice. Citroen's DS sub-brand flopped. Mazda half-heartedly tried to make its upmarket Eunos popular as a sub-brand in the 1990s, which didn't work either.

Parent Seat hopes Cupra will be the route for the brand to go global in a modest but profitable way. It's already spreading beyond Europe, launching the brand in Mexico and Israel.

In Cupra's favour is that it's ultimately backed by the might of the VW Group, like Toyota, a deep-pocketed giant of the global car industry. But history shows establishing the copper-coloured Cupra badge in Australia will be somewhere between very difficult and impossible.