When Cupra opened the Tavascan order books on 11 September 2024, the headline number was £47,340 for the entry V1. That’s the figure most people will fixate on. But having spent a morning with Cupra’s own UK price list, the figure I keep coming back to is a much smaller one — the P11D value — because that’s where this coupe-SUV actually makes its case.
Let me deal with the showroom prices first, then get to the bit that genuinely interests me: what a Tavascan costs a company-car driver per month rather than per car.
The trim ladder, line by line (Cupra Tavascan)
There are four trims, split across two power outputs. The rear-drive cars run a 286 PS motor; the all-wheel-drive VZ cars step up to 340 PS. From the price list, the spread looks like this:
- V1 (286 PS, RWD) — £47,340
- V2 (286 PS, RWD) — £53,835
- VZ1 (340 PS, AWD) — £55,935
- VZ2 (340 PS, AWD) — £60,835
That £6,495 jump from V1 to V2 is the one I’d scrutinise hardest. You’re paying nearly seven grand to stay on the same motor and the same battery, buying equipment rather than performance. Auto Express laid out the same line-up at launch, and the pattern holds: the money inside this range buys kit and the AWD hardware, not extra range.
The numbers that matter to a Cupra buyer
On Cupra’s own trims and specifications the mechanical story is consistent across the board: a 77 kWh net battery, DC rapid charging up to 135 kW and AC charging up to 11 kW. Range is where the trims diverge — up to 353 miles for the rear-drive V1, dropping to around 320 miles once you move to the heavier, twin-motor VZ cars.
I’ll be honest about the charging figure, because it’s the one caveat I’d raise before anyone signs. 135 kW DC is competent, not class-leading; rivals on the same VW Group underpinnings now push past 170 kW. On a long run that’s the difference between a 25-minute coffee stop and a slightly longer one. It won’t ruin your week, but if your driving is genuinely motorway-heavy, factor it in.
Why the P11D is the real story here
This is the part I’d put in front of any business driver. The Tavascan’s appeal isn’t the sticker — it’s how a fully electric car is taxed as a company benefit. Cupra’s price list puts the P11D value of the V1 at £47,285, and because it’s an EV it sits in the lowest benefit-in-kind band.
For the 2024/25 tax year, HMRC’s published company-car BIK rate for a zero-emission vehicle is 2%. Run that against the V1’s P11D and the taxable benefit is just £945.70 a year. A 20% taxpayer hands over roughly £189 a year — about £16 a month — for the use of a £47,000 car. A 40% taxpayer pays around £378 a year, or just over £31 a month. Those are illustrative figures based on the published 2024/25 rate, not a finance offer, and your own position depends on your tax band, but the order of magnitude is the point.
The caveat I’d flag, and it matters more now than it did at launch: that 2% band is scheduled to rise by a point each year over the coming tax years, so the benefit is already thinning out and will keep doing so over a typical lease term. It’s still comfortably the cheapest way to put a car this size on a driveway through salary, but run the band for the tax year your contract actually starts rather than assuming the launch-year 2% still holds.
The launch offers — read the small print
At order opening, Cupra paired the Tavascan with a launch package: a £99 refundable reservation that gave priority on the first 50 UK cars, a £3,000 deposit contribution, 1% APR over 48 months, and either a complimentary Ohme home charger or a £700 charging voucher. The brand set all of that out in its order-opening announcement.
The 1% APR is the genuinely valuable line for a private buyer — finance that cheap effectively discounts the car without touching the headline price. The Ohme charger or £700 voucher is the kind of perk that matters more than it sounds, because home charging is what makes an EV cheap to run day to day. As always with launch finance, these are time-limited program offers, the terms are set by Cupra and its lender, and approval is subject to status — treat the advertised APR as a starting point for a conversation, not a guarantee, and check it is still running for the tax year you order in.
Backing it all up is a 5-year/90,000-mile warranty, structured as two years of unlimited mileage followed by three years of capped cover. For a brand still building its reputation in the UK, that’s reassurance worth having.
Who I’d actually point at one
If you’re a company-car driver, this is close to a no-brainer at the V1 spec — the £16-to-£31-a-month benefit-in-kind cost at the 2024/25 rate is the kind of maths that makes a salary-sacrifice scheme look almost too good, though you’ll want to run the current-year band before you sign because it climbs each year. I’d take the rear-drive car and bank the longer range. The VZ models are the ones I’d talk most buyers out of: you’re paying for 340 PS and AWD you’ll rarely stretch, and you surrender 30-odd miles of range to do it.
For a private cash buyer the picture is cooler. The Tavascan is a handsome, well-warrantied thing, but at V2 money and above you’re into a fiercely contested part of the market, and that 135 kW charging ceiling would nag at me. What would change my mind is a faster-charging update or a sharper finance deal on the rear-drive cars. Until then, my advice is simple: order it through your business if you possibly can, stick to the V1, and let HMRC do the heavy lifting.
Buyer action
Where to check next
Use this as the final check before paying a deposit, signing finance paperwork or relying on a headline monthly figure.
