2025 Cupra Leon facelift revealed, Sportstourer confirmed for Australia!

First previewed in June 2022, the mid-life update for the Leon follows recent revisions applied to the related Volkswagen Golf, Skoda Octavia and Audi A3.

It was unveiled alongside a similar update to its Cupra Formentor sibling, with both vehicles from the Spanish brand also benefiting from new plug-in hybrid technology and an updated infotainment system.

While the Leon hatch will continue to be available in four variants – V, VZ, VZe and VZx – the Sportstourer will be restricted to the plug-in hybrid VZe and VZx in Australia.

The Leon Sportstourer VZx is all-wheel drive and boasts identical power to the Volkswagen Golf R and Audi S3, unlike the less-powerful, front-wheel-drive VZx hatch that shares more in common with the Golf GTI Clubsport.

“[Sportstourer] is a niche but interesting to Cupra. We don't need to chase volume – can choose our own territory. Will be fairly limited volume but we're prepared to be surprised! Wagons still perform fairly well in New Zealand,” said Cupra Australia's head of product and marketing Jeff Shafer.

The front end of the Leon hot hatch and wagon receives the most notable styling change, introducing a 'shark nose' face that ties it more closely to the upcoming Raval, Tavascan and Terramar models – and better differentiates the Cupra from the Seat Leon that it is based on.

At the rear, the main revision is the Cupra logo now being integrated into the horizontal tail-light bar, while there are also revisions to the lower bumper.

Two new exterior colour options have been added: Century bronze and enceladus grey.

Cupra has fitted a larger 12.9-inch touchscreen – up from 12-inch – with an improved infotainment system that aims to aims to address criticisms of the current set-up.

Material quality has been lifted in the Leon’s cabin, and there's a subtle tweak to the centre console design. A 12-speaker, 425-watt Sennheiser audio system becomes a new option.

Like the new Formentor VZx – and the related Volkswagen Golf R and Audi S3 – the all-wheel-drive Leon Sportstourer VZx moves to a 245kW turbo petrol that now has its outputs distributed to all four wheels via a torque-splitter arrangement rather than the previous Haldex system, and