► New Cupra Tindaya concept revealed
► Large, angry SUV shows off new design cues
► Also previews SSP platform and range extender tech
Tindaya! Not the name of a Disney princess, but a new show car from Cupra. It’s just been unveiled at the 2025 Munich motor show.
The name is derived from a volcanic mountain on the island of Fuerteventura – keeping up Cupra (and Seat)’s tradition of naming its cars based on Spanish locations and elements of the country’s heritage.
Let’s talk about the looks first. After the teasers promised a concept that heavily leant on performance and was for drivers, we were a little disappointed to see that the Tindaya was yet another SUV. At 4.7m long, the Tindaya is bigger than a Terramar – making it Cupra’s biggest car so far.
There’s generally a lot of design going on. The sharp nose and aggressive face includes a ‘black mask’ that’s actually a screen. It comes to life with various animations, which Ruben Rodriguez – Cupra’s head of UX – says is meant to show the car breathing. ‘We didn’t want to create just a regular car, we wanted to create something that was more like an animal,’ he tells me.
The sides of the bodywork are littered with details, too. Those enormous 23-inch, copper-detailed wheels flank quite a sculptured side profile that’s ‘inspired by the human body,’ says Rodriguez. ‘There is a lot of muscularity with the car,’ he adds, pointing to details like the lower parts of the doors that look like muscles and nerves twisting. Sustainable materials have been used wherever possible, including a natural fibre that has an almost carbonfibre-like effect.
As for the rear, it’s quite fastback-ish with bulky C-pillars and all sorts of fins and vents. It’s all so sharp, too – quite literally; the rear lights are inset into a metal material that almost feels like you’re going to cut yourself by running your finger over it.
‘Our statement is: no drivers, no Cupra,’ says Rodriguez. ‘We do cars for drivers.’ Hence why the interior is almost entirely dedicated to the person with the steering wheel in front of them. ‘There’s a 24-inch display in front of them, and the racing game-inspired steering wheel makes you feel highly focused on the driving experience.’ There’s also a display that runs along the bottom edge of the windscreen, as well as bright ambient lighting built into the doors.
Three drive modes feature, activated via a triangular glass controller that almost looks like something out of The Crystal Maze. ‘Immersive’ cuts down the information the driver gets so they can focus on driving; Rider gives you whooshing animated lighting when you accelerate; Meta is the driving mode for those ‘wanting to stay connected,’ according to Rodriguez.
Keeping the Tindaya grounded in at least some sort of reality is what lies beneath. This is among the first bank of concepts and show cars that give us some intel on the new VW Group’s Scalable Systems Platform (SSP), which will be used in various forms for everything from small city cars right up to sports cars and large luxury SUVs.
Cupra says SSP could be used with a pure electric powertrain, or with a range extender. As well as a battery, the range extender model includes a 1.5-litre TSI engine to allow for a potential max range north of 600 miles. Cupra also says this version of the SSP powertrain comes with 489bhp and is capable of a 0-62mph sprint in 4.1sec, making it the fastest Cupra ever.
As well as the powertrain, Rodriguez assures us that some of the design elements will make it across to future Cupra production cars. ‘It’s an evolution of our DNA,’ says Rodriguez. ‘This is our vision of how it will look in the future, and it’ll influence future products.’
Jake has been an automotive journalist since 2015, joining CAR as Staff Writer in 2017. With a decade of car news and reviews writing under his belt, he became CAR's Deputy News Editor in 2020 and then News Editor in 2025. Jake's day-to-day role includes co-ordinating CAR's news content across its print, digital and social media channels. When he's not out interviewing an executive, driving a new car for review or on a photoshoot for a CAR feature, he's usually found geeking out on the latest video game, buying yet another pair of wildly-coloured trainers or figuring out where he can put another car-shaped Lego set in his already-full house.
By Jake Groves
CAR's news editor; gamer, trainer freak and serial Lego-ist
