After posting their best ever year in 2016, with over 400,000 cars sold globally and recording operating profits of €143 million ($160 million), Seat is now planning to launch multiple new models.
Speaking to AutoExpress at the official presentation of the Arona earlier this week, the brand’s Research and Development chief, Matthias Rabe, confirmed they will introduce six new cars by 2020.
“With these six new models, we will enter at least three new segments. There will be three replacement models, but three will be totally new. We have plans up to 2025 on the product side. We are now coming to the biggest product phase”, said Rabe.
One of the cars will be a new large SUV, which will join the Arona and Ateca, and for which Seat have started a naming campaign asking their fans to help come up with a name for it. It will probably share some of the features of the Skoda Kodiaq and take on rivals such as the Nissan X-Trail.
The Spanish automaker will also make use of the Volkswagen Group’s MEB platform by launching an electric vehicle. This is expected to hit the market in 2019, and according to the company, have a range of up to 500km (310 miles), between charges.
As for the third vehicle, nothing is known about it so far, but it will eventually be joined by a replacement for the Leon, with the latter being in charge of debuting Seat’s new design language. The compact hatch is also believed to adopt the plug-in hybrid technology.
Moreover, zero-emission versions of high-performance Cupra models are also in the pipeline, and so is an Ateca Cupra, which will reportedly use the 2.0-liter TFSI gasoline engine from the Leon, producing around 300hp.
Note: Seat Arona pictured
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