Cupra makes some of the best cars in the entire VW Group lineup, cars that are often more luxurious, faster, and more interesting to look at than their VW-badged cousins. And the little Cupra Raval EV, seen here in prototype form for the first time, wants to continue that trend. The Raval is based on the same MEB Short platform VW will use for its ID.2, and Skoda will also slide under its own small EV. But it’s the Cupra that gets the tech first, the Raval being slated for a 2025 introduction, a few months ahead of the ID.2.
Even with this prototype’s busy disguise
in place, it’s still possible to make out the arresting shapes we were first
introduced to on the motorsport-influenced UrbanRebel concept in 2021. The
design was later refined for a more production-ready concept of the same name
in 2022, later renamed Raval. The triangular headlights and similarly-shaped
air intakes below them, the large lower grille, and the almost sports car-like
slope to the hood are visible here, as is the concave panel on the hatch below
the rear window and a small diffuser panel. Not so clear from these pictures,
but seen previously in official images, is the way the bodywork twists between
the front and rear wheels, giving a pinched-waist effect and making the Raval
look far more dynamic than the ID.2.
Unlike current MEB-based VW products like
the ID.3 and ID.4 whose single-motor variants place their powertrain at the
back, the MEB Short cars have a more traditional front-engine, front-wheel
drive layout. Cupra talks about a base model having the same 223 hp as VW’s ID.2 concept and being able to rip to 100 km/h in 6.9
seconds. We understand Cupra will serve up 38 and 56 kWh battery options, the
bigger one sufficient for a 440 km range.
The € 25,000 (US$ 28k) Raval will be built in
Spain and sold in Europe, plus other markets, but won’t be part of the firm’s
push into the US, which will focus on SUVs and crossovers instead.
