CUPRA pushes the boundaries of automotive design with the unveiling of CUPRA DarkRebel, its virtual sports car.

Embodying the unconventional challenger brand’s spirit of performance and emotion, the CUPRA DarkRebel is the first show car presented through Metahype, CUPRA’s space in the metaverse.

Wayne Griffiths, CEO of CUPRA, said: “After five years of building the brand CUPRA in a nowadays world, it is time to think about the next step. Our next dream. The CUPRA DarkRebel is the ultimate interpretation of our vision.”

The CUPRA DarkRebel brings CUPRA’s DNA to the maximum without any boundaries. It is not a prediction, but rather a provocation, showing that design is a dialogue, not a process.

Design with unfiltered CUPRA DNA
The CUPRA DarkRebel is defined by its sharp lines and the athletic proportions of a sports car combined with a shooting brake architecture.

The show car features a sharp and radical front end. The long bonnet has an arrow shape that provides the maximum feeling of speed, while the cabin is pushed to the rear to create attractive proportions.

The triangular light signature, the brand’s icon, comes with a new approach that emerges from the body, while the central spine connects the front and the rear providing the core of the skeleton for this all-electric sports car.

With progressive bucket seats and a gamified steering wheel and shifter, CUPRA DarkRebel is a driver-oriented car that connects human and machine to form one.

CUPRA’s fully virtual sports car is designed for a new dimension where desire, emotion and pushing the limits are the brand’s driving force.

Hyper Configurator
With the CUPRA DarkRebel, CUPRA goes beyond the constraints of materiality and expands the design into the intangible; intensifying the experience. The potential of the virtual world enhances creativity, boosts imagination, and amplifies the senses. 

That’s why CUPRA has created a virtual lab: the Hyper Configurator, where users can exercise their creativity without the limitations of physical feasibility.

In the Hyper Configurator, users can interact in different virtual environments and experiment to create colours, materials and finishes with outstanding results.

CUPRA’s Hyper Configurator enables the CUPRA Tribe to create their own versions of the show car and influence the final design of a physical model that will be presented in the near future.

Depending on the degree of exponentiality the user chooses, ranging from realism to imagination, the Hyper Configurator will dynamically alter some of the car’s attributes and surroundings, such as colours, graphics, and effects.

Users can choose between three environments – Exponential square, Exponential cube, and Exponential infinite, in which they can transform the show car and create their very own CUPRA DarkRebel:

• Exponential square: where the CUPRA Tribe can live the raw values of CUPRA design. Inspired by natural elements like minerals and stones, here the user can experience and challenge CUPRA’s raw textures and earthy colours in the Hyper Configurator.
• Exponential cube: for those that have a soft spot for the racing world. Here, users can experiment with the digital aesthetic of a neon-like glow, algorithmic movements, parametric geometries, and fluorescent lights. Sleek and vibrant, orthogonal, and fluid at same time.
• Exponential ∞: the highest level of Exponentiality disconnects from reality and embraces a dreamlike, otherworldly, and surreal universe with no constraints from the physical world. The environment and material choices are dominated by an ethereal feel creating a fully realised metaverse.

Upon completing the configuration, users can share a video of their unique model.

With a unique design and cutting-edge technology, the DarkRebel will stand out and make a statement.

Stay tuned as the physical version of the CUPRA DarkRebel Showcar will be coming soon, once all the user configurations have been gathered to influence the final design of the car.