Cupra Terramar 2024: Barcelona brand’s last combustion model is a midsize SUV

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The final combustion-powered model to be launched by Spanish performance brand Cupra will be the 2024 Terramar, a midsize SUV that is about the same size as the Volkswagen Tiguan.

Set to be available with a range of petrol engines, as well as a plug-in hybrid with around 100km of electric-only driving range – and possibly diesels for Europe – the Terramar will see out the combustion era for Cupra.

Cupra chief executive Wayne Griffiths reaffirmed the Spanish performance brand’s aim to completely phase out combustion and plug-in hybrid powertrains by 2030, when the brand “aspires” to sell only full battery electric vehicles.

The new SUV was named for the historic Terramar autodrome track in Sitges, a village outside Barcelona – the site of the brand launch of Cupra in 2018. In Spanish, the name means the meeting point of land and sea.

The Terramar will be the largest Cupra model on sale when it launches in Europe in 2024, though at around 4.5 metres in length, the two-row, five-seat Terramar is on the more compact end of the midsize SUV segment

Production of the Terramar will occur at Audi’s Gyor, Hungary plant – a facility that currently produces the Audi Q3 and Q3 Sportback small SUV. Griffiths said the Terramar was developed “together with Audi”.

It is possible that the start of production for the Terramar will coincide with a mid-life upgrade or other changeover to the Q3 line.

With an Australian release likely to be confirmed soon, the Terramar will sit above the soon-to-launch Formentor crossover in Cupra’s local lineup.

Riding on the Volkswagen Group MQB Evo platform, the Terramar will likely be sold in front-wheel drive and all-wheel drive layouts.

In Australia, expect to see no diesels – but rather four-cylinder petrol-based engine choices starting from around 140kW of power. No engine outputs have been confirmed, though it is possible the Terramar’s plug-in hybrid will be a similar powertrain to Cupra’s Leon and Formentor VZe PHEVs, which make 180kW.

The interior of the Terramar is yet to be revealed, and even exterior images are scant – though the midsize SUV was briefly displayed to media in Barcelona this morning.

When it arrives in Australia, the Terramar will compete against SUVs like the Mazda CX-5, Alfa Romeo Tonale, and Volvo XC40.