The character of a car marque often reflects the people leading it. That has certainly been the case with Cupra since it was expanded from a Seat performance badge into its own brand seven years ago.
Cupra’s showy, almost brash styling is in tune with the manner of former boss Luca de Meo, who created the brand during his time at the helm of Seat, and his successor, Wayne Griffiths. Both were very different leaders but shared an ability to draw attention, exactly what a new brand such as Cupra needed to make an impact.
Griffiths abruptly departed Seat-Cupra at the start of April, and for the past six months Markus Haupt has held the reins as CEO, initially on an interim basis, stepping up from his role as the firm’s production and logistics boss.
On first impression, he’s a very different leader from his predecessors, not least because his background is in engineering and logistics rather than sales or marketing. But he sounds genuine when he says he’s “passionate” about Cupra and his enthusiasm shows when I talk to him.
A German of Spanish descent, Haupt trained in Spain and spent the first 10 years of his career at Seat before moving around Volkswagen Group brands in a variety of roles. He helped to prepare Seat’s Martorell plant to build the Audi Q3, led logistics for the group’s A0 small car platform, worked on VW’s EV projects and ran VW’s plant in Spain before rejoining Seat-Cupra in 2022.
“When I returned, I found something completely different,” he tells Autocar. “Two brands, lots of success – and the image of Cupra was growing and growing.”
Part of the reason for putting Haupt in charge is likely to have been to reduce distractions during an important year for Cupra. The firm has been what Haupt calls “the clear leader” of the Volkswagen Group’s critical project to develop £22,000 ‘urban EVs’ on the MEB Entry platform.
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