Cupra Australia’s most popular model won’t be getting updated until next year, with the brand’s local product boss confirming the facelifted Formentor has been delayed again until 2026.
Speaking with CarExpert at the launch of the all-new Terramar mid-size SUV, Cupra Australia head of product Jeff Shafer said the updated crossover range will now land in “early 2026”, despite initially being slated for the second quarter of 2025 (April-June).
That means the facelifted Formentor will hit Australian showrooms nearly two years after it was revealed in Europe, and more than a year since it first hit the road overseas.
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No doubt one reason for the delay is the Spanish brand’s local strategy of giving each new model “the right time in the sun”, as communicated by Cupra Australia’s former director Ben Wilks earlier this year.
“It’s important to really roll these out responsibly in terms of timing. Each of these models needs the right time in the sun,” Mr Wilks told CarExpert in March.
“These are not necessarily delays from a factory perspective, but rather structure and order from our perspective.”
However, since Mr Wilks’ comments launch timings for several new models have changed again. The facelifted Formentor and hotter Born VZ electric hatch were both initially due on sale here before the end of 2025, and now both are coming early next year.
Still, despite its advancing age, the original Formentor comfortably remains Cupra’s top-seller in Australia, with 909 units registered to the end of June 2025 – an increase of 50 per cent on the first half of 2024.
The Formentor was one of three models with which the Cupra brand was launched in Australia in mid-2022, alongside the Leon hatchback and Ateca mid-size SUV, which is now in runout
Second spot in the brand’s stable goes to the now sold-out Born electric hatch, which found 309 new homes in the same period. A distant third goes to the new Tavascan electric SUV ‘coupe’, which has notched up 170 deliveries since its launch in March.
Mr Shafer didn’t provide an update on which versions of the facelifted Formentor will be offered locally, but you can expect an ‘S mHEV’ entry-level variant as well as a pumped-up 245kW VZx 4Drive performance hero with the same drivetrain and rear torque splitter tech as the related Volkswagen Golf R hot hatch.
In between, there’s likely to be at least one of the e-Hybrid PHEVs – which are available globally in 150kW or 200kW tunes. Cupra Australia has previously indicated a 150kW 2.0 TSI 4Drive version would also make it here, and if that’s still the case it’s likely be badged as the Formentor V.
The new Formentor will follow the updated Leon Hatch and Sportstourer (wagon) models, which are due to land Down Under in October.
Cupra is in the thick of a global product offensive, which has included the all-new Tavascan and Terramar SUVs, the facelifted Leon and Formentor ranges, as well as the Born VZ and the upcoming Raval baby EV, which will be revealed next year.
As a result of this range-wide overhaul, the Spanish brand expects its continued global sales growth to be reflected in Australia after the brand’s year-end sales decline in 2024.
Cupra Australia’s fortunes are up so far in 2025, with 40.3 per cent sales growth to June 30. This has largely been driven by a resurgence in Formentor sales off the back of runout deals, as well as clearance deals on the now sold-out Born.