The Volkswagen Group is due our congratulations – it's having triplets. Three small electric cars that will sit at the bottom of the Volkswagen, Cupra and Skoda ranges, and in theory bring EV ownership a little closer to normal-human money.

And I’ve just been in Barcelona to drive the first of the three in late stage prototype form: the Cupra Raval. 

To keep costs down these three will share the same core engineering, but they won’t be identical. Think of them more as siblings than clones. And if you want the quickest way to understand what the Raval is trying to be, imagine the whole trio as the Spice Girls. The VW ID.Polo is Baby Spice – friendly, cute, and very likeable. The Skoda? Posh Spice – sensible, spacious, quietly classy. And the Raval? No question – it's Sporty Spice.

Cupra has been given freedom with the design, and you can see it immediately. Even under its prototype disguise, it has that sharp, wedgy stance and the triangular Cupra signatures everywhere – lights, detailing, attitude – while it also sits lower to the ground than the VW and Skoda. It looks like it’s trying harder than it needs to, which is very Cupra, and very much the point.

Even the name is doing some of the work. It’s named after the vibrant-but-edgy El Raval neighbourhood in Barcelona, which is basically Cupra saying to its two siblings ‘We're way cooler than you’. 

Under the skin, the Raval is the start of a whole new wave of small Volkswagen Group EVs being designed, developed and built in Spain. Alongside it will be a small VW hatch and compact crossovers for both VW and Skoda. They’ll share a huge chunk of their mechanicals, because that’s how you make cars cheaper without making them rubbish.

The Raval gets two battery options – 38kWh or 56kWh – and Cupra is talking about a range of up to 273 miles. For a small car, that’s properly respectable. There are also multiple power outputs, but the version I’ve been driving is the one that matters most to people like me: the faster VZ. Like I said – Sporty Spice.

In this spec, you’re looking at 223hp driving the front wheels, with 0–62mph coming in under seven seconds. In a small hatchback it's the sort of number that makes you start smiling before you’ve even found a decent road. 

And the hardware backs it up. There’s a clever front differential to help it put power down cleanly, plus adaptive sport suspension that can soften off when you’re just pottering around, then tighten up when you start pushing on. It gives the car a planted, confident feel, especially through quicker corners where cheaper small cars often start to feel a bit flustered.

There’s also the option to switch off the stability control, which sounds like it could be either be a hell of a lot of fun or catastrophic, depending on who is behind the wheel, although I didn’t get to try this out on my quick drive in torrential rain in the hills behind Barcelona. 

The weather did give me the opportunity to appreciate the grip though, rising on 23in wheels fitted with Bridgestone tyres it felt confidence-inspiring going into a tight wet corner. 

So yes, on paper, the sharp-eyed among you will have noticed that the headline numbers aren’t wildly different to something like the VW ID.Polo. But where Cupra separates itself is not by reinventing the figures, but by sharpening the way it drives.

Away from the fun roads, even with the fully covered up interior of the car I'm in, it feels light and airy with good visibility and a nice driving position. The air suspension works to its advantage making it surprisingly comfortable over poor road conditions while the seats are genuinely comfy. It feels like it could be a perfectly civilised little town car when you’re not trying to channel your inner racing driver. 

Small affordable EVs are about to become the battleground for 2026. Everyone is getting in on the act – Renault, Kia, Citroen, the Chinese brands... and VW Group needs something that isn’t just cheap, but genuinely desirable.

From this first drive, I reckon Sporty Spice would approve.

Do you think they'll offer this camo wrap as an option? It's really starting to grow on us...