CUPRA Tindaya: Press Release or Poetic Fantasy?
CUPRA rolled its latest concept onto the stage at Munich’s IAA Mobility, a flamboyant study named the Tindaya Showcar after a volcano in the Canary Islands. The brand calls it the “embodiment of rebellious DNA” and a “new-era icon,” but in truth it is another design exercise meant more to grab headlines than to roll off a production line anytime soon.
The Tindaya rallies around the slogan “No Drivers, No CUPRA” — a thinly veiled shot at the autonomous future that so many carmakers are chasing. For CUPRA, the driver remains the core of the experience. Everything is framed as emotional theatre, from the logo that pulses with light, to the so-called “breathing” front fascia, to a vast 24-inch display accompanied by “The Jewel,” a glass prism presented as a control module.
Visually, it is a riot of ideas: a yawning front grille, oversized 23-inch wheels, taut shoulder lines and a double rear spoiler that feel closer to a videogame rendering than to an engineering reality. Inside, the narrative continues with opposing coach doors, lounge chairs inspired by Eames, and Sennheiser audio designed to create an “immersive experience.”
CUPRA promises three modes: Immersive Experience (a distraction-free drive), Rider Experience (for those seeking adrenaline), and Tribe Experience (a link to the brand’s community). Strip away the lyrical dressing and they are the same drive modes every manufacturer offers, only dressed in more flamboyant vocabulary.
On the materials front, sustainability is the refrain: flax fiber, 3D-printed aluminum and bio-based leather. Whether any of these will ever be industrialized remains unanswered.
In the end, the CUPRA Tindaya is more stage set than car. It sells a brand narrative built on “emotion” and “tribe” while sidestepping the simplest of questions: will anything like it ever make it to the road?
