LoginThis Is The Electric Hatch VW’s ID.3 Wishes Had Never Been Born
- Cupra is giving its Born electric hatch a mid-life refresh four years after launch.
- Spy shots show camouflage covering tweaked front and rear lights and bumpers.
- The sister car to Volkswagen’s ID.3 gained a 332 hp VZ hot hatch version last year.
The Cupra Born is one of our favorite small EVs. It takes the competent but slightly ordinary VW ID.3 and adds some sparkle to the exterior design and interior quality, and both of those attributes could be about to get another boost as part of a midlife refresh.
The VW ID.3 and Cupra Born don’t only share a platform as most VW Group products do. They share so much even the doors are interchangeable, and while it looks like those doors won’t be receiving any changes a part of a 2026 facelift, the bodywork and trim either side of those doors have definitely gone under the knife.
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Eye-scrambling camouflage hides the finer details, but new lights and bumpers will make an appearance when the updated EV is revealed later this year. Images of the facelifted car’s nose indicate a taller lower grille with a new outline and a vertical vent at each outer edge of the front bumper, just ahead of the front wheels.
And the rear shots appear to show a new design of diffuser within the rear bumper, this time with a pronounced lip at the bumper corners to make the German-built Spanish hatch look tougher and lower.
The Born doesn’t need a ton of work because it still looks modern and already has most of the corporate family face now seen on models like the Tavascan and Terramar and soon to debut on the Raval subcompact EV. And Cupra already updated the Born’s interior in 2024 with VW’s bigger 12.9-inch central touchscreen.
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The ID.3 also got the same screen in 2024, but only the Cupra features an e-boost function (optional in some countries) to increase power over the equivalent VW model. While base models in Spain come with a single 201 hp (204 PS / 150 kW) motor, UK models skip that and go straight for the 228 h (231 PS / 170 kW) version that’s a stepping stone to the 322 hp (326 PS / 240 kW) VZ hot hatch introduced last year.
We’re not expecting big changes to those power outputs, but it’s possible Cupra’s engineers could liberate a few more range miles from the 59, 77 and 79 kWh batteries. The Born with the longest legs at present is the VZ, which can go for 366 miles (590 km) before a charge is needed.
