Cupra Raval: The Renault 5 rival begins from £23,000 – can the trendy small EV show as fashionable?

Cupra, the Spanish racing-inspired car brand, has revealed a new small EV which will start from just shy of £23,000.

The Raval EV is the first in a wave of Volkswagen Group small EVs – Volkswagen owns Cupra – that will go up against Renault’s new small, affordable electric options including the popular R5 EV, in a battle between Spain and France.

It’s the smallest car Cupra will offer and is the entry point to the line, thanks to it sharing the same MEB platform as the forthcoming VW ID. Polo.

It will arrive later this summer and if it qualifies for the Government’s Electric Car Grant (ECG) as expected it will match its French competitor’s starting price.

The Raval’s price point also puts it up against the Vauxhall Corsa Electric and the new Kia EV2. 

The cheapest Kia EV2 costs £24,245 but the Renault 5 starts from £21,495. However, this is with the ECG already included.

As well as sharing the same platform, the Raval will offer the same battery options as its Skoda Epiq and Volkswagen ID Polo and ID Cross. 

So you’ll be able to choose between a 37kWh Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) and a bigger 52kWh Nickel Manganese Cobalt (NMC) option.

The 37kWh battery is paired with a 114bhp electric motor in the ‘Core’ entry spec, delivering 186 miles of range, which is mainly good for city driving.

The higher V1 and V2 trims can be paired with a 134bhp motor and the smaller battery or can be combined with a 222bhp electric motor and the larger 52kWh battery which boosts the range to 279 miles. This vaults over the Renault 5’s 252-mile max range.

The range-topping VZ trim is only available with the larger 52kWh battery and a 222bhp motor. 

While you get more power you get less range; 248 miles. The resulting 0-62mph is seven seconds, and you’ll get a top speed of 108mph. 

This trim will go up against the Alpine A290 which costs from just over £30,000.

You’re also promised performance from the Raval – Cupra is a sports brand after all. It should be the sportiest of the Volkswagen Group’s new small EVs.

It’s getting a sports chassis, with lower suspension than other MEB Plus EV – 15mm lower and 10mm wider – and steering tuning that will ‘enhance agility’. ‘Sport’ mode tweaks the traction control, there’s a launch control option called ‘E-launch’, sporty start-up sounds and combining interior lighting options too.

The Raval borrows the Volkswagen Group’s Dynamic Chassis Control (DCC) Sport adaptive dampers, and the stability control system can be fully switched off.

The exterior of the Raval looks like the Urban Rebel concept revealed in 2022, with a sporty sloping roofline, ‘sharknose’, and Matrix LED lights.

Cupra has gone big on lighting, with backlit vents on the front grille, a full-width rear lightbar and lighting used ‘almost like a material’ on the inside: the front doors get animations shined onto them.

There’s a 10.25-inch instrument display, the biggest of any Cupra yet, and a 12.9-inch screen taken from the Born EV. 

There are physical buttons to accompany the touchscreen and haptic buttons – but only on the steering wheel.

In certain versions driver and passengers can enjoy Cupra’s ‘Cup’ bucket sports seats, this time made in a new sustainable ‘3D knit’ made from one piece of material and without stitches to unpick.

And despite being 278mm shorter than the Cupra Born EV, the Raval actually comes with more boot space because the electric motor sits under the bonnet rather than the boot floor. 

You have 430 litres to pack to the nines, which is 45 litres more than the Born. Note though if you get the 12-speaker Sennheiser sound system, the subwoofer reduces the boot by around 20 litres.

Cupra Raval pricing and availability

All versions of Raval will be available in the UK to purchase from 1 July.

The small battery Raval Core starts the line up at £22,785. Then the same battery and more powerful V1 trim costs £26,995 while V2 costs £29,580.

The larger 52kWh battery models start at £29,995 for the V1 guise, going up to £32,580 for the V2.

The top VZ costs from £35,705 and there will be two launch trims: Launch Edition and the VZ Extreme.

The £33,995 Launch Edition gets some extras including autonomous safety kit, fancier bucket seats and a better sound system, while the £36,530 VZ Extreme comes with the Cup bucket seats in the 3D-knitted upholstery, Sulfur Green 19-inch alloy wheels in Sulfur Green, and a matte exterior paint finish. The 222bhp electric motor is the chosen one here.

Cupra is expecting the Raval to qualify for the Government’s Electric Car Grant, for the lower Band 2 £1,500 discount. If this is included, then it will cost less than the R5 E-tech.