All-electric Cupra Born hatch is now available to pre-order in Australia – $65k and 500kms of range

Australia has really lacked any small-sized electric vehicles, but today, pre-orders of the Cupra Born went live.

The Cupra Born is an all-electric hatch that is capable of speeding from 0-50km/hr in just 2.8 seconds, but takes a more modest 7 seconds to reach 0-100km/hr.

While it should make for a zippy around-town car, this also offers a great range, at up to 511km on the WLTP standard. This range is achieved from a fairly large battery, 82kWh (77kWh usable) in capacity. When it comes to charging, the Born supports the popular CCS2 connector, making it great for charging at the fast majority of fast-chargers, or via AC at home overnight.

The car features 170kW of power and 310Nm of torque and has one of the best-looking designs for an EV to date, just be aware some of the images you’ll see include upgrades.

The base driveaway cost of the Cupra Born in Australia is A$64,990. For a small car, this price will certainly be steep for some to justify, however, given there’s not much competition in the small-car category for EVs, there’s hardly a price war breaking out.

Here’s where things get interesting.

If you opt for the flagship Aurora Blue paint, you’ll pay an additional $475. Want to upgrade from the standard 19″ to the 20″ rims, it’ll cost you A$2,600 extra. These are clearly less efficient, reducing the range to 475kms.

The strange thing is, this wheel upgrade, suggests it includes the 4-seat interior package (worth A$2,900), which doesn’t really make sense to me.

With both options selected, you’ll be up for $68,065, but keep in mind there are state-based EV incentives that can reduce the price by as much as A$3,000.

If you order today, deliveries start from April 2023.

Included with the Cupra Born are the following features:

• Keyless locking and starting system Keyless Advanced without SAFELOCK
• Supersports steering wheel, heated
• Auto Dimming Rear View Mirror
• Ambient Interior Lighting
• Light & Rain Sensor
• 5 Seats as std. 4-seats with Interior or Performance Package
• Anti-theft alarm system, interior monitoring, backup horn, and towing protection
• Airbag on driver and front passenger side, without knee airbag, without front passenger airbag deactivation
• Side airbag in front with curtain airbag and interaction airbag in front
• Driver Fatigue Detection
• Intelligent park assist IPA
• Adaptive cruise control
• Front Assist with Pedestrian and Cyclist Detection
• Proactive Passenger Protection (Pre-Crash)
• Tyre Pressure Monitoring
• Lane keeping system
• Top View Camera (360 degrees)
• 12″ Infotainment System
• Digital radio reception
• Antenna for FM reception only, diversity
• Wireless Phone Charger
• 2-Zone Climatronic Air Conditioning, CFC-free

A couple of noteworthy callouts.. it costs A$1,000 to pre-order the Born, $250 of that is non-refundable.

Regarding servicing, a contentious issue that caused a lot of grief with BYD Atto3 customers, Cupra lists their service intervals as every 15,000 KM or 12 months, whichever comes sooner. As we know, EVs are meant to have far fewer serviceable parts which leads to a lower cost of ownership, so requiring an annual service is questionable.

Also listed in the terms and conditions, Cupra says ‘Due to ongoing production disruption, caused by a global shortage of some vehicle components, vehicles will arrive without an engine bay cover which will be fitted after delivery.’ I’m not entirely sure what an engine bay cover means for an EV, but you won’t have it at delivery.

Typically other EV brands outside Tesla, have offered vehicles in very low quantities, often as little as 500 for the Australian market, so my suggestion would be to order sooner rather than later if this looks like your next car.

More information at https://www.cupraofficial.com.au/cars/cupra-range/born