Cupra postpones US launch plans as it battles industry headwinds

Cupra has indefinitely postponed its plan to launch in the US in 2030, citing "ongoing challenges within the automotive industry". The Seat-owned Spanish premium marque was due to expand into North America at the end of the decade with an exclusively electric line-up, including larger models designed and engineered exclusively for the US. But now Seat has "strategically decided" to push back its Stateside roll-out of Cupra and has given no indication of when it now expects such a plan to be viable. The announcement was made as Seat revealed its financial results for the first half of 2025, during which it said it contended with "ongoing industry headwinds". Deliveries rose 33.4% but revenues fell 2% and operating profit plummeted 90.6%. Seat cited changes in its sales mix, intensified competition and EU tariffs on the China-built Cupra Tavascan SUV as the chief factors in the downturn, pointing to a return on sales of just 0.5% over the six months - a drop of 4.7 percentage points. It also noted that its factory in Martorell is being adapted to build a new line-up of small Volkswagen Group EVs from next year and resultantly produced almost 50,000 fewer cars in the first half of 2025 than in the same period last year. Markus Haupt, who is serving as Seat's interim CEO following the departure of Wayne Griffiths earlier this year, said: “The first half of 2025 confirmed the challenging environment we had anticipated, with increased market competition and EU import duties on the Cupra Tavascan impacting Seat SA’s performance. “We remain actively engaged in constructive dialogue with the European Commission to address this issue and are confident in reaching a positive outcome in the near future.” Despite the setbacks, this was Cupra's "best first half ever", with deliveries of 167,600 cars, a 33.4% year-on-year uptick. More than 900,000 Cupra vehicles have been delivered globally since the brand launched in 2018 and the millionth is on track for delivery in the coming months. Nevertheless, Seat said that "given the ongoing challenges within the automotive industry", it was delaying its plans to expand across the Atlantic. The news comes just a day after the EU and US agreed a long-awaited trade deal, under which most EU-built products are subject to an import rate of 15% in the US, down from the 27.5% that was imposed in April. The agreement was welcomed by various sectors, following several weeks of uncertainty over the continued viability of shipping EU produce to the US - but the reaction from the European automotive industry has been downbeat, with leaders forecasting that the tariffs threaten car makers' profitability and - ultimately - jobs. Sigrid de Vries, who runs the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA), said: "The agreement takes an important step towards easing the intense uncertainty surrounding transatlantic trade relations in recent months, and ACEA welcomes this development in principle. "Nevertheless, the US will retain higher tariffs on automobiles and automotive parts, and this will continue to have a negative impact not just for industry in the EU but also in the US.” Hildegard Müller, president of the German Automotive Industry Association (VDA), warned the 15% levy will "cost the German automotive industry billions annually and will burden them in the midst of the transformation [to electric vehicles]". As part of the trade deal, US-built cars can be shipped to the EU tariff-free. Cupra hasn't explicitly cited the new tariffs as a factor in its decision to pause its expansion into the US but instead blamed "challenges within the automotive industry" and "evolving market dynamics". It is unclear whether the slow adoption of EVs in the US is a reason for the delay, given Cupra's plans to go electric-only globally in the coming years. Cupra's French rival, Renault-owned Alpine, had also been planning a US launch by the end of the decade but put the programme on ice in the wake of the new US import tariffs being implemented in April.

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Cupra postpones US launch plans as it battles industry headwinds

Premium brand follows Alpine in delaying American plans after parent company Seat posted a substantial profit dip

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Cupra postpones US launch plans as it battles industry headwinds

Premium brand follows Alpine in delaying American plans after parent company Seat posted a substantial profit dip

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