Cupra has announced a collaboration with legendary German tuning and car customisation house ABT, and the Spanish brand is going to offer a pair of 'Custom Cupra by ABT' styling packs for its Leon and Formentor models.
Who or what is an ABT?
ABT, or ABT Sportsline to give the company its full name, was founded in 1896 (no, not a typo) as a maker of horsehoes, but since the 1970s it's been fully focused on cars, creating bodykits and engine and chassis tuning packs for all sorts of cars. ABT has raced Audis, Formula E cars, and GT3 racers down through the years. They're proper legends of the German motorsports scene.
So what's the deal with Cupra?
The deal is that Cupra is now going to offer - yes, to Irish customers too - exterior styling packs designed for the Leon and the Formentor. These can, of course, be fitted to the ultimate, high-power Leon VZ or the Formentor VZ5, but you can also have them for much humbler models, right down to the entry-level 1.5 TSI versions with a mere 150hp.
Sort of like a 'Turbo-Look' Cupra?
Exactly that, and nice use of a 1980s reference. The Leon's kit fits either the five-door hatchback or the Sportstourer estate and is meant to be inspired by the Leon VZ TCR racing car. The kit includes a rear spoiler and rear aero flaps and winglets, a rear splitter, side skirts, a front splitter, dark chrome logos, a new rear diffuser, and matt-black 'Mistral' 19-inch alloy wheels. If you're fitting the kit to the most powerful Leon VZ, then you get 245mm-wide high-performance tyres to go with your alloys.
Click here to read our Cupra Leon reviews.
What about the Formentor?
Essentially, the Formentor gets the same setup, but obviously tweaked to suit its different body shape, and that includes a rear spoiler with flaps and winglets, a rear splitter, a new rear diffuser, side mouldings, a front splitter, dark chrome logos, and 19-inch alloy wheels, this time in the 'Custom' style. The mighty Formentor VZ5, with its 390hp turbo five-cylinder engine, gets special 20-inch alloys if you're fitting the ABT kit, but you don't get the front or rear splitters as the VZ5 already has its own special aero kit.
The new Custom Cupra by ABT packs were launched, appropriately, at the Red Bull Ring race track in Austria. "The Custom Cupra by ABT pack marks the newest page of our collaboration and brings the character of our most extreme models to every customer, regardless of which powertrain they choose. It is about giving drivers the freedom to make their Cupra truly their own, with the meticulous craftsmanship of the Cupra Racing Factory behind every single component,” said Sven Schuwirth, Cupra's head of sales and marketing.