A 635 PS five-cylinder crossover that makes no sense, in the best way
12/05/2026
ABT decided 390 PS and 480 Nm were not nearly enough.
To celebrate its 130th anniversary, the German tuner has revealed the ABT CUPRA Formentor VZ5 635, a special edition limited to just 30 units worldwide. That number is part tribute, part statement: 130 years of ABT compressed into 30 cars that will never exist in this form again.
The base car was already special. The Formentor VZ5 is one of the very few modern crossovers to use the legendary 2.5-litre five-cylinder turbo engine, an engine most people associate with Audi RS models rather than a CUPRA SUV.
The five-cylinder gets one last moment of madness
The five-cylinder turbo is one of the most charismatic engines still alive in the Volkswagen Group universe. It has sound, it has heritage and it has attitude. And in an era where everything is becoming smaller, quieter, heavier and more electrically assisted, it feels almost rebellious. That is why the ABT Formentor VZ5 635 hits so hard.
This is not just another performance SUV with a remap. ABT uses its Power R upgrade, an ABT turbocharger, an ABT intercooler and an IWI system, short for Indirect Water/Ethanol Injection. The system injects upstream of the throttle bodies and is controlled by an ABT-developed electronic control unit, helping cool the intake charge and support sustained high power output.
635 PS in a compact crossover is ridiculous
A standard Formentor VZ5 already feels strong at 390 PS. It is compact, aggressive and powered by an engine with real character. But 635 PS and 700 Nm move it into a completely different category. This is more power than many proper sports cars.
It is only 15 PS less than a Lamborghini Urus S, yet it comes wrapped in a much smaller, more unexpected crossover body. That is the appeal. Nobody expects a CUPRA Formentor to be this serious.
A top speed of 300 km/h makes the message even clearer. This is not just a short-burst traffic-light toy. ABT wants this car to feel like a proper high-speed performance machine. A 300 km/h Formentor sounds absurd.
ABT did not stop at the engine
The Formentor VZ5 635 receives ABT coilover suspension and ABT sports anti-roll bars, with the setup specifically developed around the car’s new performance level and with the Nordschleife in mind. Compression and rebound can be adjusted, giving owners room to fine-tune the car depending on use and preference.
635 PS in this class can easily become nonsense if the chassis is not able to keep up. The Formentor has always been one of CUPRA’s better-driving models. ABT’s challenge was not just to make it faster, but to make sure it still feels controlled, sharp and usable.
Only 30 units, and not for all of Europe
ABT says all vehicles will be officially distributed through the CUPRA dealer network in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. So this is technically a European special, but not a broad one.
That makes sense from a collector point of view, but it also means most CUPRA fans will only ever see this car online.
AutoNext Take
A 635 PS CUPRA Formentor with water-ethanol injection, 700 Nm and a 300 km/h top speed is objectively ridiculous. But in a world where performance cars are becoming more rational, more filtered and more predictable, ridiculous can be exactly what we need.
The key ingredient is the five-cylinder. Without that engine, this would just be another overpowered crossover. With it, the VZ5 635 becomes something with character. Something with a voice. Something that feels like a final celebration of a type of engine we may not see for much longer.
