Cupra Formentor: the show begins
With the precision of a Swiss watch and thus complying with the calendar they promised in their presentation, the new brand of the SEAT Group presents Cupra Fomentor. A year ago at the 2018 Geneva Motor Show, the Spanish brand unveiled the first model of the new Cupra brand, the Ateca Cupra. Just one year later, and in the same place, the concept of the first vehicle of Cupra origin was revealed.
After half a year of work, hundreds of sketches designed by hand and supported by the latest virtual reality technology that achieves a validation of 75% of the model before the manufacture of the first unit in real size, after all this, El Formentor was born.
Creating the first model of a brand adds the responsibility of creating the design language that will define the upcoming models, no matter what segment they are positioned in. If we talk about Cupra, we talk about technology and avant-garde. These are the rails where the wagon that has carried the brushes has moved to give life to the Formentor.
Alberto Torrecillas, exterior designer of the Cupra Formentor, decided to remain faithful to his style and chose to design on paper, getting to translate the ideas in a very fluid way managing to face the results. This does nothing but take the results of the artist to the extreme.
At the same time, the design team of the Colour & Trim brand gives life to the interior. To be successful, this challenge must go through different stages that, although different and independent, coexist and depend on each other, so that it will only reach the assembly trains if they culminate in a single and homogeneous triumph.
The interior aesthetics combine the new luxury concept of the premium segment of this new era. The use of exclusive materials and colours must accommodate, precisely and comfortably, the third step that culminates with interior design: technology.
The Formentor naturally blends noble and industrial materials. The petrol blue colour, created exclusively for this model, welcomes the lovers of the engine of always with a tone very present in the garages of yesteryear. Far from being retro, it becomes the perfect ingredient capable of conjugating elements such as leather and aluminium that are correctly positioned inside.
Finally, we talk about a chapter that in the designs of not long ago were created almost by accident completing the possible holes that left free the mechanical needs of other times.
Today, it's the opposite and that's how the new Cupra was created. The placement of the central screen where the epicentre of all the car's technological management is indisputably positioned becomes the protagonist of the entire technological orchestra of the interior of the new Cupra.
The Cupra Formentor will reach the market approximately in the middle of the next 2020.
Exactly 700 kilos of clay, a clay that is both very moldable and consistent, was the first Formentor created at natural size.
Once finished after being sculpted as it is, a work of art, is scanned to give way to the close-ups of what will later become the first Cupra with its own design language. In addition, 500 sketches, 100 renders (1,800 icons on the screen and 1,300 on the instrument panel), 1 kilometre of thread, more than 50 colour proofs and what undoubtedly becomes the engine of all of the above, the creative illusion of moulding Cupra's DNA.
Coupé shapes, a strikingly low bodywork and a pronounced bonnet make the Cupra Formentor a meritorious position in the sports universe.
At 4.47 metres long, 1.99 metres wide and 1.54 metres high, it has a practical and versatile size for daily use. These measurements predict that the asphalt of the circuit will fit the Formentor like a glove.
Using the same platform as the newly developed Golf or Audi A3, the Formentor will hit the market around the second half of 2020.
Once the design was completed, the technology took care of bringing it to life. CAD (Computer Aided Design) designers turn creativity into 3D. This step, in addition to making the project a reality by confirming its homogeneity, guarantees its reliability by complying with the technical requirements necessary for its manufacture.
Thinly designed, the Formentor through sports seats with a very low driving position which makes us forget that we are inside an SUV.
Jaume Sala, charged with leading the interior design, told us that in the past the whole vehicle was designed and afterwards it was decided where to place the radio, the buttons, etc.: "Today we first position the screen and determine its content, and then we take care of the rest".
The Design Digital Lab, department of digital integrations, makes clear that its priority in the design of the Cupra Formentor has been very intuitive and simplified. The new evolution of the Digital Cockpit already present in SEAT's latest releases is the one that for the moment will direct the content of the not at all discreet 10-inch widescreen.
The unit that already rolls in test drive test on Spanish roads has opted for a plug-in hybrid technology. Through a 1.4 litre TSI engine with 150 horsepower it coexists with an electric propulsion that offers 115 horsepower. This propulsion allows him to obtain in five seconds the 100 km/h and 50 km of autonomy 100 x 100 electric.
In addition, gasoline engines will also appear, specifically a first engine of 177 horsepower and another of 300 horsepower.
Already rolling, Cupra has moved to the Cape that not only gives it its name. Its cliffs defined by the erosion of the sea and the design of its shapes have inspired the traces of this vehicle.
Alberto Torrecillas, CUPRA's exterior designer, was inspired by changing nature to create his aerodynamic silhouette: "The wind sculpts the rocks, which inspired me to design the tension lines, where you can see the dynamism and the sensation of movement, even when the car is stationary.
In addition to winking at the garages of yesteryear's temple of jewellery that rolled in the most glamorous years in automobile history, the Colour & Trim department reinterprets this mythical colour by adding the natural dyes that only the Mediterranean gives when it achieves the unique expression of blue resulting from deep fishing grounds, northerly winds and the reflection of the sun.
