The Cupra UrbanRebel concept looks like a race car, but it’s actually a sneak peek at a new city-friendly electric vehicle (EV) due to go into production from 2025.
The UrbanRebel is 4080mm wide, 1795mm wide, and 1444mm tall, meaning it is practically the same size as the current Volkswagen Polo.
Seat says the UrbanRebel “teases the proportions of the future urban electric car in a racing disguise”.
Clearly the production car will not have the concept’s massive rear wing or hyper-aggressive bumpers.
Given buying preferences have shifted towards more practical designs, we expect the car in showrooms will have four doors and an extended side window profile.
Styling elements, such as the shark nose roof, wraparound window graphics, and Formentor-inspired rear will make it into production.
According to Seat, the UrbanRebel has an electric drivetrain capable of delivering 250kW of continuous power and 320kW of peak power.
While we would love for that drivetrain to make it down the production line, packaging, price and range constraints will likely see more pedestrian setups being used.
The production version of the UrbanRebel will be based on a shortened version of the Volkswagen Group’s MEB all-electric architecture.
A report earlier this month indicated Skoda will lead development of this revised platform, which will be used for cars smaller than the Volkswagen ID.3.
The shorter MEB architecture will reportedly use battery packs from the full-size MEB platform, which currently stretch from 45kWh to 77kWh.
Cars reportedly being developed on the architecture include the 2024 Skoda Elroq crossover, 2025 Volkswagen ID.1 crossover, 2025 Seat Acandra hatchback, and Volkswagen ID.2 hatch.
It’s unclear how closely related the Seat Acandra, Cupra UrbanRebel, and Volkswagen ID.2 will be.
“The urban electric car is a key strategic project not only for our company, but also for the Volkswagen Group, as our aim is to produce more than 500,000 urban electric cars per year in [Seat’s factory in] Martorell for different Group brands,” Wayne Griffiths, CEO of Cupra, said in a prepared statement.
Cupra will be introduced to the Australian market in mid-2022, with the launch range consisting of the Leon hatch, and Ateca and Formentor crossovers.
