I think we all know that Škoda is Europe’s best brand (no I will not explain), but Cupra is probably Europe’s hottest brand right now. The cars look great, they’re fun, and people seem to love them. Now we’re finding out that Cupra is coming to the United States. W00t!
Cupra might be Europe’s coolest car brand, but Europe’s favorite pastime is watching what kind of BS Formula 1 is going to get itself involved in next. This time they’ve crossed Susie Wolff; well, I wouldn’t do that.
Speaking of F1, Aston Martin (the automaker) has a new boss. What’s the opposite of a brand that’s been in F1? Lincoln. Ford’s luxury brand has rarely been sporty, and that laid-back attitude has extended to inventory as the Lincoln brand has dumped a ton of cars on dealers it meant to deliver last year. That’s not great, but it may not be Nissan Rogue bad.
Happy Friday Morning Dumpers, let’s squeeze out a good one!
Volkswagen’s Cupra Is Coming
Cupra is a weird brand. Initially, Cupra started as a trim level offered by Seat, a once Fiat-associated Spanish automaker. Then, in the 1980s, Seat was purchased by Volkswagen to add to its giant list of subbrands.
Cupra was sort of like Seat’s AMG, meaning you used to be able to get, like, a Seat Leon Cupra (a portmanteau of Cup Racing). There are many famous Cupra cars, but the one you might know best is the mid-2000s León Cupra R, based on the same platform as the Mk4 Golf:
Eventually, more cars got the Cupra treatment and, in 2018, Seat decided to create a new sub-brand called Cupra that would focus on making a sportier range of vehicles the company could then export elsewhere. The brand, while making gas-powered cars, was also designed to eventually focus on hybrids and EVs.
The cars look great. Walking around England I kept seeking out Cupras and saw a couple of Formentors and, I think, a León driving the opposite direction. As with Škoda, Porsche, Audi and other VW brands, these are all just different flavors of modular VW platforms, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t all great. A spicy crawfish etouffee and a simple bechamel both start out as a roux, if you catch my drift.
I was sort of wondering if VW might try to introduce another brand to the United States to counter Polestar but, given how Polestar’s been doing lately, that didn’t seem like an obvious move. Thus my surprise when Cupra/Seat CEO Wayne Griffiths said the following yesterday:
“By the end of the decade CUPRA will be entering the U.S. market. We plan to launch with the battery electric version of the Formentor and a bigger electric crossover SUV. That crossover SUV will be produced at Volkswagen Group factories in the North America region, including Mexico. Initially, CUPRA will launch in selected states in the East and West coasts and the Sun Belt states. This will be done through a new distribution model,” announced Wayne Griffiths.
There is a lot to unpack there. Let’s start with the obvious; here’s what the current Fomentor looks like:
This is a C-Segment crossover based on the same MQB Evo as the Golf, Audi A3, Tiguan, Ford Tourneo Connect…
A new one is going to come out in the next couple of years, and the United States will seemingly only get the EV version. The larger EV? Unclear what that’ll be, but it’s likely a Kia EV9-style thing maybe? Maybe a version of the ID.Buzz?
Also, what the hell does this mean:
“This will be done through a new distribution model.”
I’ve checked the wires and no one else seems to know either, so I’m excited to hear about that. Either way, more new weird car brands is good and, hopefully, the first round of BEV crossovers will be followed up by something small and sporty like the ID.3-based Cupra Born, which I like very much:
More weird car brands, just don’t make the Alpine mistake and bring us some cars, too!
FIA Leadership Loves Shooting Their Own Dicks Off
I chose the phallic reference above for a good reason as the FIA and F1 seem to have swapped the sort of chummy ’70s misogyny of Bernie Ecclestone-era F1 for something far more insidious and also somehow more hamfisted. Sure, the whole Ecclestone-era schtick of only allowing women near the cars if they were holding an umbrella was pretty awful in retrospect, but it was comically obvious what they were doing and they made no real secret of their feelings.
Now there’s a new F1 and FIA with a super obvious double standard when it comes to how it treats women, though this is going to get into the complex relationship between the owners of F1 the brand (Liberty Media), the FIA (the governing body), and F1 as a collection of teams.
Oh boy, where to start?
Susie Wolff is a Scottish race car driver and former Formula E team principal who is now in charge of the F1 Academy, which is Formula 1’s attempt at making a racing series to encourage participation by female drivers in the highest level of motorsports. Is this the best way to do this? I don’t know, but it seems like a genuine effort and I’m not going to let great be the enemy of something.
By virtue of F1 being a small world and everyone in F1 being a little extra, as demonstrated by Drive To Survive, Teutonic superman Toto Wolff of Mercedes-AMG F1 fame and Susie Wolff (then Susie Stoddart) fell in love and got married and had kids. I’ve met both of them and they seem like accomplished and successful professionals. Racing is a tough job with a ton of travel and, you know, hats off to them for making it work. Also, my favorite impression is my Toto Wolff impression “Michael, zis is so unfair, Michael!”
For, like, one weird week in December, the FIA said it was going to do an investigation of Susie Wolff because other F1 teams complained that the involvement of Wolff in the F1 Academy was a conflict of interest. Almost immediately after the FIA announcement, every team came out and said “We don’t know what you’re talking about FIA” and the thing was dropped. It was pretty insulting and was just one of many things that FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem did that pissed everyone off.
Fast forward to earlier this year and it is alleged that Red Bull’s Christian Horner made a lot of advances to a Red Bull Racing employee and was otherwise a weird boss. There are supposed leaked but unconfirmed texts. It’s a messy saga, but Red Bull did a quick investigation and cleared Horner. Red Bull then quickly suspended the woman who made the claims. It is difficult to ascertain if this employee’s claims are legitimate, but the vibe around F1 and F1 reporters is that they seem plausible and the employee, for her part, isn’t backing down. Additionally, Horner and Red Bull seem to have gone out of their way to not confirm if the texts are real or not and will not name the lawyer who supposedly conducted the internal investigation. Is it shady? It feels shady.
All of this is important because the FIA has also not said if it’s actually investigating Horner or not. This seems like a huge double standard given that it immediately announced it was investigating Susie Wolff for committing the terrible sin of being, uh, married, but hasn’t said much about Horner.
Anyway, here’s Susie Wolff on X/Twitter:
— Susie Wolff (@Susie_Wolff) March 20, 2024
The FIA, so far as I’ve seen, hasn’t provided much detail to any reporter asking about the complaint. At the same time, Red Bull is dealing with a world of drama as champion driver Max Verstappen’s dad Jos Verstappen is going around telling everyone that Horner needs to go away and people keep wondering if the FIA will actually investigate the issue.
Here’s the great kicker to this story, courtesy of BBC Sport:
Meanwhile, over the course of the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend, Ben Sulayem approached Red Bull driver Max Verstappen and said he should make a public statement supporting Horner.
Verstappen responded, sources close to the world champion have told BBC Sport, by telling Ben Sulayem he should launch his own investigation into the matter.
I’m not a huge Max Verstappen fan, personally, but I do feel a little bad for the kid because it seems like his whole life is just him being pressured by weird dads.
Aston Martin Appoints Adrian Hallmark As CEO
Speaking of F1 dads, props to Aston Martin Chairman Lawrence Stroll for snagging ex-Bentley Motors CEO Adrian Hallmark as the new CEO of the company, replacing Amedeo Felisa.
As CEO of Bentley, Hallmark did an undeniably great job of making the company über profitable while also getting the brand through the pandemic.
Here’s what Stroll had to say about it:
“In Adrian Hallmark, we are attracting one of the highest calibre leaders not just in our segment, but in the entire global automotive industry. Complementing our world-class leadership, Adrian will bring to Aston Martin unrivalled experience in both the ultra-luxury and British manufacturing sectors to progress our strategy and continue recent momentum.”
Aston Martin seems like a tough gig at the moment given the company’s ongoing financial losses, so I think Hallmark has the potential to be a great pick.
It Might Be A Good Time To Buy A Lincoln
While far from its heyday, Lincoln has managed to continue to plug along selling cars every year. It’s also starting to get a little more product support from Ford as the brand shifts towards more lux + tech.
One of the biggest challenges for Lincoln last year was inventory as UAW strikes and quality issues (including a stop-sale for the popular Aviator) hampered sales. Now, it seems, the opposite is happening. Lincoln has fixed its production woes and has now delivered a ton of cars, including 2023 MY crossovers to dealers. According to Automotive News, the February stock of Lincolns is three times what it was a year ago.
From that report:
“It was kind of a perfect storm for the factory to have to get through,” Chris Poulos, chairman of the Lincoln National Dealer Council, told Automotive News. “We’re dealing with it on a day-to-day basis. All in all, yes, inventories are up, but I look at it as an opportunity to get some volume.”
Still, some dealers have voiced concerns over the need to more quickly reduce supply, citing concerns over how lingering 2023 models could affect floorplan costs or hurt their ability to market the newest vehicles.
“We’re going to do what we need to do to clear out the old models as we need to, and so far it’s going well,” Lincoln President Dianne Craig said in an interview this month, adding that the focus was on incentives. “The last couple months we’ve made some really good progress.”
Lincoln sales are already trending upward this year, so if you’re in the market for a luxury car and don’t mind a 2023 model you might be able to get a good deal.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
This was playing in a Honda Civic roughly three blocks away, but it was playing so loudly I heard it quite clearly. Let’s start Friday with a little Shaggy. Where does his unique voice come from? He was in the Marines and the voice was originally created to mock drill instructors. I love that.
The Big Question
Which brand not in the United States would you bring here? Obviously, I’d bring Škoda.
Dammit, I misread the first part and thought Skoda was coming. I’d be more interested in that
As a Beranek, I fully support bringing Czech cars to the US.
I’d totally rock a classic Tatra.
Your optimism that a Spanish migrant will be welcomed into the US is touching…
I got incredibly excited to see that Cupra was coming to the US and had dreams of leasing a Leon Sportstourer. I should’ve known better. I’ll be crying at my desk if anyone needs me.
I love Fomenter as a car name.
To sell it to the usual mouth-breathers here in the US, they’ll need to rebrand it as Tormentor and give it a lift kit.
And then when owners start complaining that they’re buggy and unreliable, we can all victim blame and tell them they should’ve known what they were getting into since their car is literally named “Tormentor.”
Talk to me when we get the Dacia Sandero (cue James May “great news!”)
I think we all say we’d love to have a Dacia, it’d be an adjustment for many folks.
Having been in a few of them: they’re obviously spartan, but also feel as though they’re 10years behind on NVH.
I love me a basic cheap car but I had a Dacia Sandero as a rental in Ireland a few years ago and it was literally just a dull, not at all fun to drive and very unrefined car. Like a 1993 Ford Festiva but with zero character. My back catalogue of cars I’ve owned has a lot of manual basic small cars like said Festiva, a few 2002 Mazda 323s, a 2013 Nissan Micra 1.2l 3cyl, a 2002 (I like cheap cars from the noughties) VW Polo 1.4 3dr, a 2009 Fiesta 1.6.. and recently a 2021 Kia Picanto 1.2 4cy n/a auto – the Sandero (it was a 2020 model) wasn’t as good as any of those cars.
Cupra Formentor sounds like something out of a GTA game.
I’d love if Morgan Cars (and not just the three wheeler) were available in the US in a consistent and totally marketable way.
The new bmw based 4 wheeler is gonna be, no ?
It just sounds too close to “Fermentor” to me. This leads me to believe they are all old and stinky and if you have too much you’ll end up with a hangover.
I wonder if Volkswagen is going to structure Cupra USA as an independently managed subsidiary, sort of similar to what GM did with Saturn Corporation, to allow them to avoid state franchise laws and do direct sales a la Tesla and Lucid? Being electric only helps with that, as there are some states that allow direct sales only of electric vehicles and require franchised dealerships for internal combustion, a slow roll out in selected markets could be part of feeling out the legal response
BYD! Just to troll pretty much everybody. 😉
Just what we need, another 4 dr SUV looking thing with a giant nose…….I’m a car guy thru and thru, but I can’t tell one of these things from another any more unless I can see the badge. And then what do you have? Just another of the endless stream of sameness.
“European sporty brand will be coming to the US”
Me- Sportswagon?! Please?!
“Choices will be a regular crossover and a big crossover”
Me- Womp womp.
Another SUV.
Sad trombone.
It’s not sporty, it’s sporty looking.
It’s seems overwhelmingly pointed to the Jimny. I 2nd (20nd’d) this suggestion.
There’s the part that jumps out at me. When an exec says stuff like that, it’s almost never “a couple years from now” or “several years before the end of the decade.” I assume we’re talking about a 2030 model here.
Paired with:
I’d guess that it’ll be online sales of some sort (which is very ok), but they need some time to set it all up and bribe the dealer networks.
I wonder if it’ll be the version after the next version.
Peugeot/Citroen under the big umbrella from Stellantis. Now dealerships will be called CDJRPC
Alpine (A110 coupe)
????
You’ll only get the electric SUV
But isn’t the Cupra and many Seat’s FWD, sorry I am a RWD guy. Drove a Super Cupra around the Ring, while fun it’s definitely a whole different exp having RWD for most my life.
I was a little excited the many times Peugeot was gonna come back, having one and many in the family ages ago.
But bring on the Chinese EVs, just so it can fuck shit up for everybody and cause lots of interesting chaos. Really would like to see how well they sell and the quality, not that I would prolly ever buy one, unless it’s that small EV truck for $20-25k.
A lot of Cupras are AWD or RWD. The Born hatch for instance is rwd and I love mine
Give. Us. Jimny.
10x bonus points if we can get the fun JDM body kits, I want a G-Wagen kit Jimny so badly.
Why can we not buy a Jimny? I specifically requested it.
“Why can we not buy a Jimny? I specifically requested it.”
I’m not 100% sure, but I think it has something to do with chickens.
Those mother cluckers, keeping us away from that which we so rightfully deserve…
I read your rant using a stereotypical “Karen” voice in my head, where you’re holding your smartphone in front of you as you video-record your ire’s source.
“Hello US Customs, I want to speak to your manager. NOW! I am so appalled by the treatment I’m facing here, I just want to get my little SUV through this port so I can drive it THIS MOMENT!!! I don’t care that it’s not “federalized” or whatever the hell your dumb agent said. I did my paperwork. Its CORRECT. Release my car or I’m calling the Port Authority. He’s a good personal friend and I WILL HAVE YOUR JOB”
As I read this, I almost punched my phone out of pure reflex.
Technically Skoda was in America, I had an 82 120 sold in Canada with a rear engine and side opening frunk
For two years before i went back to the ground.
This is cool! Now, VW – just replace the VW brand with Skoda and you’ll be set. Skoda’s cars are all better executed, more attractive VW’s anyway – usually at a lower price.
VW should probably concentrate on selling VW’s.
It might help with VW’s aspirations of VW moving upmarket to slot Skoda in below.
I had a Cupra as a rental on a work trip, flew into Denmark, had it in Sweden. It had the Golf R powertrain, and a “Cupra” mode, which made the fake exhaust more menacing. Great car! Too bad we won’t get it here. Also too bad that it was on the leg of the trip in Sweden. Slowest speed limits and strictest speed enforcement in the EU. On the Germany leg I also had a VW-product C segment SUV… with a 1.0L :-(.
Yay!
Sad 🙁
My exact reaction. OH COOL! They’ve got some neat hot hatches….oh…..goddammit
I’d bring in TVR, for the tiny little hoonables with big engines, lovingly made in a shed by these scary clowns from Blackpool.
TVR are the Schrödinger’s cat of car companies. You can never tell if they’re currently alive or dead, without knocking on the door of the factory and trying to buy a car.
I think currently they’re in “we’re totally going to start selling the Griffith any time now” mode, which happens every thirty years or so.
Current state of the factory: Repo’d by the welsh government
COTD
Too much power, too little weight, no safety features whatsoever. Mash the go pedal at your own risk. I’m here for a good time, not a long time.
If there was one thing I could change to the formula, it would be to turn them into streamliners. Who wants to top out at 230+ mph and possibly go unintentionally airborne?
WE DIE LIKE MEN! AND WOMEN!
But let’s face it, most women are smart enough/posses too much survival instinct to join us.
My wife: cars are depreciating assets. I just want something simple, comfortable, and reliable. Driving fast is unsafe. Please be careful.
Me and my lizard brain: unga bunga BIG PEDAL ON RIGHT GO DOWN huehuehuehue I must return to monke
LOUD CAR GO FAST!! LOUD CAR GO FAAAAAST!!!
It’s a very “-Muricah’ Fuck Yeah” thing, even if the car is British.
The reanimated corpse of TVR was going to be Welsh, but they don’t even have the second hand factory any more.
Since we’re talking about Cupra, this feels like a good time to ask the commentariat: how does one pronounce the parent brand?
I’d always thought “Seat” was pronounced “CHAY’-ott,” owing to the whole Spanishness of it all … but I’ve also heard it pronounced “SEET.”
Anyone?
(Also, to the main question: Alpine)
See-Att. I think, anyway.
I always thought it was “Say-Ought” but could be very wrong.
In Spanish it’s Say-ott, some castellanos slur their “S” sounds into a “Th” sound so you may hear Thay-ott out there but but Chay might be a bit of a stretch.
For it to be SEET it would have to be spelled Sít
Oh, of course. I forgot about BarTHelona. Thank you all!
I lived in the Netherlands for two years, and everyone there pronounced it: “SAY-OTT”.
seh-att
None, there are too many brands already
Suzuki, for the Jimny. That being said they need a soft top variant.
For that reason I think they should team up with Jeep and sell the Jimny in the US under the Jeep brand, and in exchange Jeep can work with them on making a soft top variant, solid front axle variant, etc. where Jeep has exclusive access to the Jimny for the US market, and Suzuki gets to sell the new variants everywhere else.
I support this motion. A slight redesign of the front end language to more directly reflect the wrangler, market it as a CUV but offer lifted offroady versions, and I’m pretty sure you have a strong seller, as long as they don’t price themselves out of the market anyway.
They could also collaborate on a BEV variant in the future as well.
I’d take it one step further and suggest that Suzuki rescues Jeep from Stellantis’ incapable hands… not sure if Suzuki would be any good, but I’d highly doubt they’d do worse!
Considering the BEV “Jeeps” that are coming out in the future I agree with the sentiment, especially when they had a proper production ready BEV Jeep concept already built (the orignial Wrangler Magneto).
Bring back Suzuki. Sell the Jimny!
When Miata isn’t a valid answer, Jimny is the answer. Oh so very very much the answer
Jimny Is My New Yanswer.
I’ll add another vote for the Jimny. Saves me importing a RHD one. I’m up in Canada so I can buy ones built this millenium.
If you’ve never seen one in person, it’s hard to tell quite how small and cute they are. They’re smaller than a LandRover Defender! So cute! I’d totally buy one if I had the money, the space and the need for an off roader.
Even the Swift would be welcome.