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It’s been five long years since the Cupra Tavascan concept was unveiled, but the sporty Spanish brand has finally revealed the production-ready version of its all-electric coupe-SUV. It’ll hit the streets in 2024 as a rival to the Ford Mustang Mach-E, Nissan Ariya, Tesla Model Y and all-new Polestar 4.
The road-going Tavascan’s styling is faithful to the 2019 concept, with the production car retaining the polished black A-pillars designed to emulate the look of a racing helmet’s visor. The heavily sculpted bodywork and athletic silhouette are similar to the concept’s too, while the production Tavascan features Cupra’s signature copper-coloured accents and badging.
New details on the production car include a black front fascia that’s unique to the Tavascan, an illuminated Cupra logo on the bonnet and a distinctive three-triangle headlight signature – a motif that’s repeated in the tail-lights. These are linked by a full-width light bar, with another illuminated Cupra logo on the tailgate. There’s also a lip spoiler on the boot and a diffuser insert for the rear bumper.
The Tavascan is 1,861mm wide and 1,597mm tall, meaning it’s wider and lower than a Nissan Ariya, which contributes to its rakish look. At 4,644mm from nose to tail, the Tavascan is longer than the Ariya as well, while the Cupra boasts 540 litres of boot space. That’s substantially larger than what the Nissan offers, and nearly 140 litres more than you get from a Mustang Mach-E.
Inside, the Tavascan features a driver-focused design defined by its central spine (also carried over from the concept car). It not only separates the driver and front passenger, but serves as a structural piece of the interior, connecting the dash and centre console, with storage underneath.
Bucket seats will be fitted as standard up front, with buyers to be offered a choice of recycled textile or microfibre upholstery, plus Deep Plum or Dark Ice Metal colours for the door mouldings, central spine and other areas to add some contrast. There are plenty more copper accents inside, plus ambient lighting.
The centrepiece of the cabin is a 15-inch touchscreen – the same display found in the recently unveiled VW ID.7 saloon. It’s the largest screen ever fitted to a Cupra, but perhaps the bigger deal is the illuminated climate controls below. That’s because the non-backlit touch-sensitive sliders in the Cupra Born, and all of VW’s ID electric cars until the ID.7, have been a constant source of criticism.
Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are both standard as you’d expect, and you get a 5.3-inch digital dash. There’s also a new 12-speaker sound system developed in collaboration with Sennheiser, while buyers will also be offered an augmented reality head-up display that projects info such as speed and sat-nav instructions onto the windscreen.
There’s no shortage of safety tech on board either, with predictive adaptive cruise control, traffic sign recognition, lane assist and fatigue detection among the kit featured. The new Connected Travel Assist system offered for the Tavascan can keep the car in the centre of the lane, adjust your speed while cornering and offers assistance with lane changes on the motorway, while the Assisted Parking function allows you to perform parking manoeuvres remotely using a smartphone.
Autoexpress