The 2023 Cupra Born Electric Car Is Coming To Launch In Australia! New Spanish rival Hyundai Ioniq and Nissan Leaf EV arrives for local testing ahead of release

The Australian launch of the Cupra will soon be followed by the all-electric Born small hatchback.

The Australian launch of Volkswagen Group's new Spanish brand, Cupra, is heating up, with the all-electric Born small hatchback arriving for local testing ahead of its expected release after the first wave of models.

As reported, the Cupra will officially enter the Australian market around June with the Leon small hatchback and the Ateca and Formentor small SUVs, with the former and latter available with three turbo-petrol engines and a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) powertrain.

But the big news is the Born, which Cupra Australia hopes will go on sale later this year. Why? Well, this should be the first mass-produced zero-emission model offered by the Volkswagen Group locally, and strong overseas demand has so far supported VW and Skoda's plans.

Cupra Australia director Ben Wilks said: "The Born is undeniably our halo, embodying all the performance and design appeal of Cupra in a zero emission package."

In terms of local testing, the first of three examples of the Born was delivered to Sydney, and each of them should have over 10,000 km on the odometers, marking the first time the small hatchback has traveled outside of Europe. .

Speaking to Australian reporters last September, Cupra CEO Wayne Griffiths said: “Australia is more important to us than many other markets…so we are putting our resources into refurbishing an electric car for Australia as a goal, as a priority.”

Mr Griffiths added that the Spanish brand is doing its best to "find a solution for Cupra Born" in Australia, a priority in its 2022 budget, adding that "the issues are not related to emissions or homologation".

“The problems are with online car connectivity and the system behind it, but there are workarounds that we are working on very pragmatically right now to get cars ready to go in Australia,” he said.

“Cars are safe; cars are homologated. The challenge is just online connectivity, but even if we have to make the first cars autonomous, that's what we'll do."

For the record, Born is closely related to the VW ID.3, which is yet to be confirmed for low priority Australia along with its sibling, the ID.4 midsize SUV, and the Volkswagen Group is hoping for a 2023 launch date for it. all-electric family ID.

In Europe, the Hyundai Ioniq and Nissan Leaf rival offers three powertrain options (110kW, 150kW and 170kW), a choice of rear-wheel drive (RWD) or all-wheel drive (AWD) and three battery options (45kWh, 58kWh). and 77kWh).