Modern Vespa

Drove past one of these sitting at a stoplight today. At first I thought it was some sort of rebadging, but it appears to be a real car, owned by VW.

https://www.cupraofficial.com

Website seems a bit half-baked in terms of info. Lot's of photos of people on their phones? They also have a 'What is a test drive?' in the FAQ section.

Maybe I'm too old for this brand.

Cupra is = Seat in practice. Owned by the mighty VW corporation, yes.

Earlier Seat used to brand 'performance models' Cupra.

Now it seems that Cupra range is widening with models that are not so much about performance, rather re-badged Seats.

Their 'subscription' based option is interesting. Like a shorter lease, or just leasing, rebranded.

https://www.cupraofficial.com/faqs/purchasing-options/subscription

Or is a subscription just the euro way to say lease?

Lease/rental/subscription - all the same, though some lease arrangements have a purchase/buy-out clause at the end of the lease. This SEAT subscription sounds just like a 6, 12 or18 month rental.

That is correct.
VW decided to dump Seat as a brand name and to launch Cupra instead.
I don't know if that is such a good idea. Nobody recognizes "Cupra" as a brand.

Cupra is a credible player in the UK with their Golf R engined Ateca and their electric Cupra Born.

A friend of mine has just sold his Cupra Ateca, 300 hp very much ordinary looks, a real wolf in sheeps clothing. Under the hood everything is badged VW or Audi!

He ran it for two years on a PCP plan and really liked it.

In the period 2015/2019 the Seat Leon Cupra was a real classic track car. It even had its own race series with racing schools fielding fleets of them. Same 2L engine kicking out 260-310 hp.

I think it was this success that spawned the Cupra brand distancing Seat in an attempt to move up the value curve.

lol. Volvo tried the "subscription' model w/ their ev xc40 a few years ago. It's no longer called a subscription, but back to a lease. The only difference btw that and a lease was the insurance was included. That didn't work out in 'murica cause.. too many incompetent drivers and lax DL requirements?

There have been conversation on MV about automakers looking at subscription based models for add on features, i.e., heated seats on a Bimmer might cost you $X annually.

The term 'subscription' when it comes to cars rightfully rubs people the wrong way.

I have been driving a Cupra Formentor for nearly 2 years, 4WD 2.0T DSG so very much the same as a Tiguan or other VW. The car has been perfect aside from an over-reliance on the big touchscreen for just about everything. Cupra was originally the hot version of a SEAT (it's a stretch but sort of like AMG is for Merc) but has now been hived off as it's own brand. SEAT has continued as a brand in its own right.