SEAT and Cupra boss Wayne Griffiths has scuppered hopes the brands might make a new sub £17,000 electric car based on the Volkswagen ID.1, and said electric SEATs of any kind are on the back burner  

“SEAT is in good shape,” he said, “but EV is not a priority for us. EVs in Europe are supposed to be 25% of the market and its currently at 13%. In that climate it is very difficult to make an EV at the sub €18,000 level profitably.”  This would be especially hard as SEAT would have to be cheaper than the Volkswagen and Skoda models, as SEAT is positioned as the entry brand in VW’s portfolio.

However, the company will continue to invest in the Cupra brand and product line up rather than diverting resources to the SEAT. There had been suggestions from senior VW executives that the SEAT name would die altogether as a car brand, but it has had a surprise renaissance in the past year, with sales up 7.5% across Europe. This has led to the company revamping the combustion-engined Ibiza and Leon ranges so they can soldier on until 2030.

The cheapest model in the Cupra range will be the all-electric Raval mini SUV, which will be launched in early 2026, built in a new €5bn plant in Barcelona and shares its platform with the VW ID.2 and Skoda Epiq.

One potential route for SEAT when the time comes will be to simply rebadge the ID.1, in a similar way to the previous Mii, which was a thinly-restyled version of the VW e-UP! Sven Schuwirth, SEAT's Executive Vice-President for Sales and Marketing said: “That is one way. We have to have a look at the capacity of factories and platforms which would fit, as SEAT should be attractive buyers who are buying their first new car. They will be younger and even a Volkswagen will be too expensive. But we cannot lose money on this car.”

One model which is on the list for production is a Cupra sportscar, inspired by the Dark Rebel concept. “It has to stay on our list of things to do,” said Griffiths, while Schuwirth described it as the “cream on the cake” of the Cupra brand. This could use the hardware developed by Porsche for the new, all-electric Boxster. He also said there was room for a larger model in the range, especially as the brand intends to move into the US market.

Griffiths expressed frustration at the speed of change towards electric cars around the world, and called on governments to make them more attractive to buyers by following the example of countries like Portugal who incentivise EV purchases. “Tariffs and taxes are only a temporary fix,” he said. “Europe shouldn’t see the move to electrification as a threat to the car industry – it’s an opportunity, especially if we embrace the renewable energy economy with cheap, clean power. But it’s the consumer who ultimately decides what cars they buy, not the regulator. And those consumers ultimately decide the regulators too.”