I've just read a similar article in
Autocar where it talks about rebranding the whole of Seat as
Cupra. Reading through the comments, I agree with most of one of the posts; It's not the first time VAG have mooted this.
Last time I heard similar the plan was something like this:
Audi = Executive/Premium brand
VW = Quality/Family brand
Seat = Sportier brand
Skoda = Entry/budget brand
But my own thoughts about this are, that with the advent of common platforms across the group, the differences have become so small in the cost of the main components that;
Skoda have made a great product but they're no longer the bargain they were - they have a strong following who are loyal to the brand, so if someone want's to progress to a sportier model, they invariably go for a vRS and stay with the brand if they want quality/family cars because they're slightly cheaper and generally bigger than VW
Seat's position as the 'Sportier' brand has suffered with the introduction and popularity of the various Golf hot hatches (Performance versions of the GTi, the R etc) - headline figures 'push' some buyers towards VW
VW is still the 'staple' brand and with it getting the most powerful engines before Seat, eats into Seat's position in the group
Audi is still the premium brand but also will take those looking for the more expensive end of the Hot Hatch/Sports market (S3, RS3, S4, etc)
The
Cupra Ateca is a good start re-claiming the Sportier niche - why the Leon R and R ST were not branded at
Cupra with the ABT packs as an option on all 3 models, I have no idea?
Anyway, there's my two'penneth