Seat’s performance brand Cupra has made its debut in Mexico with the opening of its first global flagship store and the market launch of the Cupra Ateca.

The Cupra Garage store, located in an exclusive part of Mexico City, is joined by six Cupra Corners throughout the Seat dealership network in Mexico. The Cupra Garage is a 300 square meter (3,229 sq ft) street-level venue with enough room to display up to six vehicles. The store is staffed by a team of four Cupra Masters and a sales manager.

The brand has chosen Mexico’s capital city as the location of the world’s first Cupra Garage because the local market has a big appetite for Seat’s performance models.

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The world’s first Cupra Garage is located in Colonia Roma, one of Mexico City’s most exclusive areas

“Mexico is a key market for Cupra, and the inauguration of the Cupra Garage is an important step for the brand’s expansion,” said Cupra CEO Wayne Griffiths. “Our models have always had a great acceptance in this market. In 2018, one of every three units sold of the SEAT Leon was a Cupra, the highest mix worldwide”, Griffiths pointed out.

Also marking the brand’s local debut were the Mexican premieres of the Cupra Formentor plug-in hybrid crossover concept and Cupra Ateca Limited Edition. 51 of the planned 1,999 units of the limited-run Cupra Ateca have been allocated to Mexico and will arrive early next year.

Cupra Ateca Limited Edition

The Cupra brand sold 20,600 units in the first nine months of this year, up 78.9 percent than in the same period last year. Germany is the leading market, with more than 8,700 deliveries, followed by the UK, Spain and France.

The expansion to Mexico, Cupra’s first market outside Europe, should help increase sales further. The first signs are promising, as the pre-order campaign for the Cupra Ateca, which kicked off in October, enjoyed a “huge response”, according to the company. Besides the 300 PS (296 HP) SUV, the brand will also handle sales of the Leon Cupra hot hatch.