Everyone knows this from childhood. One has wished for something special at Christmas. And is disappointed with the gift unpacking then. Something like this is probably some Seat fans today.
It must have happened at some point in the matchmaking. In the fun game round of a Friday evening in the Wolfsburg headquarters, the representative from Spain unfortunately pulled the short straw.
The consequence: First, designer Walter de Silva was parked in Barcelona so that he could go through his Rubens phase. The first, crisp Leon - still the optically legitimate successor of the Alfasud to me today - was followed by a model trio that never ran really smoothly despite its curved shapes. Shortly after the "Auto Emocion" had been proclaimed and Seat was positioned in the Volkswagen Group as a sporty volume brand, in the eyes of some even as an Alfa Romeo opponent, followed ... a compact van! In 2003 the Altea was on the IAA as a study, and from 2004 it was sold. A couple of colorful pills later, he was tinkered with a small step in the design department along with a panoramic window at the rear. The Toledo notchback sedan, which is particularly popular in southern Europe, was given a successor that could be considered a missing point in terms of both appearance and concept. The Leon was also replaced by putting the Altea clay model in the press. The once dynamic compact car suddenly appeared in the showroom with the outline of a jellyfish. Only as an FR or Cupra version did the Leon halfway honor the self-made brand promise. Furthermore, the small car Ibiza had to regulate to keep Seat from sinking.
While the sister brand Skoda hurried from one record year to the next after the bang-out comeback with the first Octavia, the Seat team in Spain stood on its feet. At least one thing they had in common with the selected opponent Alfa Romeo: a model range that failed to meet customer expectations.
Then in 2012 finally the U-turn with the current Leon series. The cheaper alternative to the perfect Teutonic Audi A3 also visually shows the youthful dynamism that you like to live at Seat. Finally there is a station wagon for the young family and with the Cupra also an official after-work hit.
And because you can now also bring cars, wants or allowed, the market demands, now gets his SUV Seat. Finally a model more in the group unit porridge! For the Altea drivers, there have been quite a few accumulated in Germany and in eleven years to make the transition easy, the new model is similar: Ateca. Like almost every seat, the name of the Spanish geography is borrowed and not to be confused with the Pontiac Aztec.
The shorter one is now being drawn at Seat again: At 4,36 meters long, the Seat Ateca is smaller than the technology dispenser VW Tiguan (4,49 meters) and corresponds in size to the Skoda Yeti. Despite all the euphoria of finally having a car in the growth segment, Seat's creativity probably fell by the wayside. What has been done over the many years in which the public has been put off with announcements of the SUV model.
The design is extremely reminiscent of the Ford Kuga, especially the area between the A and D pillars along with the roof run should also be repairable with Ford parts after an accident. At the front the Leon was under the tracing paper and the rear is the standard group rear. You can no longer see it slowly. The angular license plate recess, which has been in all models since the last Audi A4 at the latest, the rear lights that look damned like Skoda Superb and the sharp edge in the profile with which all group brands have been celebrating their oh so precise body press for some time. Neither experiments nor much brain fat inside. There is a bland Leon-style cockpit, conceptually built a bit higher but with too many identical parts.
Let's take the trouble to deal with the engine program, even at the risk that this tires you, dear reader. Because no matter what MQB novelty (I just did not go different, the modular transverse kit had to be mentioned!) Is shown, the selection is always the same: 1.0 TSI three-cylinder with 115 PS and the 1.4 TSI with 150 PS fuel Super. The 1.6 TDI with 115 PS and the two-liter with 150 or 190 horses fulfill the diesel mission. Of course, either manual or switched on the engines from 150 PS may be double coupled.
It gets interesting with a quote from Luca De Meo, CEO of the brand, who was deported from Audi Marketing to Seat last autumn: “..the launch of the SUV is a major contribution to increasing our brand image. And that is our core task ”.
Aha? The core task is therefore not an increase in sales figures, profit instead of sales? The fact is: The brand Seat does not fit with the current direction in the Volkswagen Group. The cost level in Spain prohibits the positioning as a cheap brand, in the mainstream you fight with Skoda often around the same customers. Close you will not be able to so easily the factory along with brand due to extensive subsidies. The factory in Martorell is currently manufacturing the Audi Q3 and, starting with 2018, the Audi A1, thus serving as a workbench in the corporate network. Many Seat models no longer run in Spain from the band: Toledo and Ateca at Skoda in the Czech Republic, the Mii together with VW Up and Skoda Citigo in Bratislava and the Alhambra together with his twin VW Sharan in Portugal.
So what can VW's plan be? It retains its manufacturing capacity in the south and rebuilds the Seat brand. Yes, right: the brand. This is where Mr De Meo's statement on image comes into play. Because only with a fan base Seat as a label for a takeover candidate interesting. The Chinese are likely to say goodbye, as the launch of Seat did not work there recently. So let's throw the Indians in the ring. How to do it right, the example shows Jaguar Land Rover under the guise of Tata. Mahindra is also financially strong.
Let's just look into the glass ball. So Seat could be sold in a few years and a penetrative head-shaker has ceded. When Sergio Marchionne is no longer a board member at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and thus the top guardian of the Grail of Alfa Romeo, Volkswagen no longer needs a sporting opponent for the Italians. Dieselgate out there, fines in the billions - the purchase of the Italian brand will certainly still be possible. They also have an SUV in their range.
