Cupra Born: new arrival is one of the best compact EVs on the market
The new Cupra Born embodies characterful design and the spirited zip of electric driving
When we spoke to Cupra’s design director Jorge Díez about the Spanish brand’s ambitions and future, characterful electrification was at the top of his priority list. This car, the Cupra Born, is effectively the brand’s manifesto made real.
The Born is an electric hatchback that’s sized to be at the mid-point in a fast-maturing market. Not quite city-car compact, and certainly no match for the brawnier electric SUVs, it has a broad range of capabilities.
With a stated range of 215 miles for the basic v1 spec, it’s no long-distance cruiser, but it’s more than comfortable on the motorway and fast charging allows for all but the most ambitious distances to be covered with ease.
Cupra Born EV: brilliant around town
It also makes the Born a brilliant machine around town, with a greater range than cars like the Mini Electric, Peugeot e-208 and Honda e, meaning charging is required way less often.
In top v3 spec, the battery pack is boosted to 77kWh and the range stretched to an impressive 264 miles. You also get the kind of extras usually found only in much more expensive machines, such as massage seats and a heated steering wheel (an essential for cold-weather driving when you’re trying to conserve battery).
Other extras provided in the optional Tech L pack include wireless charging for your phone, keyless entry, and an intelligent park assist function. There’s also a nine-speaker audio system by Beats.
All in all, the Cupra Born offers a premium experience in a relatively small package, just the thing to lure people out of larger cars.
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox
Just enough eccentricity
One of Cupra’s stated USPs is to make cars that are a little bit more exotic than your run-of-the-mill middle-market product. The Born is built on Volkswagen’s MEB electric platform (the Modularer E-Antriebs-Baukasten), a scalable system that underpins the company’s own ID range, the mid-size Audi Q4 e-tron and the excellent Škoda Enyaq iV. In terms of size and proportion, it matches up most closely to the VW ID.3, but where the Volkswagen is rather quotidian, the Born has little flourishes of eccentricity.
It boasts a face like a Gaudí gargoyle, and a badge that looks like an instrument from the Inquisition, while there are Calatrava-esque diversions into twisted geometry, particularly on the grille, dashboard, and D-pillar.
Splashes of the company’s signature copper finish lift the interior and exterior; our only quibble is the touch-sensitive controls for volume and heating (inherited from VW) that are fiendishly hard to operate consistently. Nevertheless, the Born sets itself apart without being overtly extrovert.
While global economics dictate that VW’s MEB-based cars must run the gamut of scale, we believe there’s a real benefit to downsizing. Leading industry figures have told us that advances in battery chemistry and production happen every month. Given this, VW’s recent decision to push back the introduction of its second-generation EV platform until 2028 would seem to make sense. As electrification comes of age, here’s hoping the modest automobile makes a comeback, offering efficiency, practicality, and style without sacrifice.
Cupra Born, from £36,475, price as tested £43,280
Jonathan Bell has written for Wallpaper* magazine since 1999, covering everything from architecture and transport design to books, tech and graphic design. He is now the magazine’s Transport and Technology Editor. Jonathan has written and edited 15 books, including Concept Car Design, 21st Century House, and The New Modern House. He is also the host of Wallpaper’s first podcast.
-
The 2024 Ivor Novello nominations for songwriting have been revealed
77 British and Irish songwriters and composers make up this year's nominees, announced tonight at London's Groucho Club
By Charlotte Gunn Published
-
Why Bollinger’s La Grande Année 2015 champagne is worth celebrating
Champagne Bollinger unveils La Grande Année 2015 and La Grande Année Rosé 2015, two outstanding cuvées from an exceptional year in wine-making
By Melina Keays Published
-
Lexus installation explores time at Milan Design Week 2024
Lexus brought designer Hideki Yoshimoto’s ‘Beyond the Horizon’ to Milan’s Art Point, part of its ongoing series of collaborations with Fuorisalone
By Nargess Shahmanesh Banks Published
-
Pininfarina Battista Reversario is a new one-off electric hypercar
The all-electric Pininfarina Battista Reversario is joining its aesthetic inverse in an ultra-select car collector’s garage. We take a look at a car built to a very precise order
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
LEVC’s L380 is a truly magnificent minivan
The London Electric Vehicle Company’s L380, is a magnificent minivan designed for upscale long-distance travel, as the maker of the London Taxi branches out into all-purpose EVs
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Vauxhall Corsa Electric brings the modest model upmarket
Car-share convenience or the burden of automotive ownership? The Vauxhall Corsa Electric goes high-tech to help sway the undecided
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Mighty Kia EV9 is the brand’s biggest electric vehicle. How does it scale up to its rivals?
We take the Kia EV9 – now in showrooms, in a wide range of versions – for a spin to see how the revitalised company handles the design of a big SUV
By Guy Bird Published
-
Toyota bz4X SUV is the marque’s first pure electric vehicle
The Toyota bz4X is our first chance to explore how the long-standing masters of mass automobile production make an EV
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
New Rivian R2 and R3 downsize a format to increase the EV company’s standings
The Californian manufacturer has revealed the new Rivian R2 and R3, all-electric SUVs that combine practicality with functional elegance
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Microcar madness: three new ultra-compact electric city cars
These two-seater electric microcars are the ultimate errand machines, designed for short hops and small spaces, all with a minimal footprint
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Year in review: the top 10 cars of 2023, as selected by Wallpaper’s Jonathan Bell
What were the best four-wheeled offerings of 2023? Transport editor Jonathan Bell takes us through the year’s most intriguing automobiles
By Jonathan Bell Published