Cupra Tavascan VZ2 - long-term review

If you're reading this in the US, you might think the Cupra Tavascan is just an irrelevant curio. FYI, beneath the surface it's the same as the VW ID.4, which VW sells in the US, built for that region in Chattanooga, Tennessee. (Yes, as a Brit I had to look up the spellings of both that city and state.)

But actually, Cupra has been quietly planning to launch in America. The Tavascan would be ideal for the style-forward EV-friendly states on the coasts of the USA. Last year Cupra started to talk with the Penske Automotive Group about setting up a sales network. Penske of course not being an outfit given to failure – it owns dealerships selling half a million cars a year, not just in the US but worldwide, and owns Sytner in the UK.

Why do I mention this? The Tavascan isn't built in Spain but in… China. It won't have escaped your attention that the politics and economics of selling a Chinese car in the US have just taken a series of tumultuous twists. And that the ground hasn't settled yet.

But Cupra hasn't pressed the panic button on its American plan. For several reasons, it's pushing on. First, tilling the ground to sell a new brand in the US is a long job. You need to research likely hotspots of buyers, set up the network and service, do the pre-marketing et cetera. So when Cupra and Penske first spoke about it last year, they never planned for a launch before 2029.

They also said they might well build the Tavascan in a US VW factory, which makes the ID.4's Chattanooga (yes I had to look it up again) connection look interesting. And finally, in 2029, the Oval Office will have a new occupant, one whose strategy is perhaps something other than consistent inconsistency.

By sheer coincidence, I've been exposed to plenty more electrified Chinese crossovers lately. I drove the Cupra to the first drive of the MGS5. Also to Top Gear's gathering of a phalanx of Chinese-made cars, both Chinese and European branded. Hello Lotus, Mini and Volvo. We could also, by the way, have added the Honda CR-V and E-Ny1, Polestar 2, Tesla 3 and Dacia Spring among others.

Well, if you think electrified crossovers are all the same those events would have supported your view. For the big Top Gear test I had to shift several of the cars between locations, and when I'd driven the Haval, Leapmotor, Omoda, Skywell, and Xpeng on that short and undemanding route, I'm here to tell you I had the gravest trouble remembering which was which.

I’ve driven the BYD and MG rather more, so my impressions of them are marginally less fuzzy. They are all different sizes, and longer drives reveal they have widely differing levels of dynamic competence, but the general character is depressingly generic.

At least the Cupra looks and feels different. Different too from the VW ID.4 and ID.5. This isn't a matter of Volkswagen Group brand differentiation rules by the way – the Tavascan sells in China as the VW ID.UNYX. Main difference seems to be an avatar-heavy skin on the screen software.

A Top Gear long-term review is the way a relationship between a driver and a car develops over time. You want to know about the way a car fits into daily life. Is it reliable and useable, and does the novelty wear off or turn into real affection? Promise that after this swerve into global politics I'll be coming to all that in future instalments.