Autocar January 29, 2020

SINCE THE 2013 launch of the last Leon, Seat has been one of the industry’s most impressive success stories. It has a happy knack of making the right car in the right segment at the right time, and finding buyers for them in increasing numbers. Pre-2013, it was a very different story. In 2010, Seat’s then boss, James Muir, said the company was facing a fight for its very survival and a five-year turnaround plan gearing up for the launch of the Leon simply had to work as “the last attempt for Seat as a brand”. “If one would want to get rid of Seat, one would have to give the other party money to take it” was Muir’s frank assessment. Yet the plan worked. Last year, Seat sold 574,100 cars, almost…

“The Leon plug-in hybrid will make 201bhp and has a claimed 38-mile electric-only range” Seat has brought its Leon model into the 2020s with an all-new generation, promising greater efficiency, a new technological standard and a greater emphasis on design than ever before. It’s also the first Seat to come with both mild-hybrid and plug-in hybrid powertrain options. Unveiled for the first time in both hatchback and estate forms, the new Leon will make its public debut at the Geneva motor show in March. It will be joined there by the new Cupra Leon performance model, itself available in both petrol and plug-in hybrid guises. First examples of the Ford Focus rival will arrive in UK dealerships the same month. The fourth-generation Leon continues a lineage that has accumulated more than two million…

SINCE THE 2013 launch of the last Leon, Seat has been one of the industry’s most impressive success stories. It has a happy knack of making the right car in the right segment at the right time, and finding buyers for them in increasing numbers. Pre-2013, it was a very different story. In 2010, Seat’s then boss, James Muir, said the company was facing a fight for its very survival and a five-year turnaround plan gearing up for the launch of the Leon simply had to work as “the last attempt for Seat as a brand”. “If one would want to get rid of Seat, one would have to give the other party money to take it” was Muir’s frank assessment. Yet the plan worked. Last year, Seat sold 574,100…

Which cars did you benchmark as the dynamic target for the new Leon? In regards to the chassis, we were benchmarking a sporty Ford [the Focus ST] and a sporty Hyundai [the i30 N] even for the standard Leon models. We don’t see them as competition, but also the Volkswagen Golf and Golf R and the Audi A3 and S3. Does this mean the Leon will feel firmer and sportier than the Golf? Absolutely: a sporty feeling is paramount. The behaviour of a Seat isn’t supposed to be comfortable, but still in among the sportiness we’ve made a very comfortable car. The FR model is 15mm lower and has adaptive dampers; if you want, you can take the needle from Comfort over to Sport. What challenges were brought by engineering the plug-in hybrid? Hybrid was…

“The Leon plug-in hybrid will make 201bhp and has a claimed 38-mile electric-only range” Seat has brought its Leon model into the 2020s with an all-new generation, promising greater efficiency, a new technological standard and a greater emphasis on design than ever before. It’s also the first Seat to come with both mild-hybrid and plug-in hybrid powertrain options. Unveiled for the first time in both hatchback and estate forms, the new Leon will make its public debut at the Geneva motor show in March. It will be joined there by the new Cupra Leon performance model, itself available in both petrol and plug-in hybrid guises. First examples of the Ford Focus rival will arrive in UK dealerships the same month. The fourth-generation Leon continues a lineage that has accumulated more…

The future of a new Focus RS hinges on its engineers creating a high-output, full-hybrid powertrain that fits in with the new EU regime for average fleet CO2 emissions – a challenge that Ford bosses describe as “waiting for a solution”. A senior Ford executive told Autocar: “We are waiting for our engineering team to come up with a solution on the powertrain and that is not easy given the new fleet CO2 regulations.” Eighteen months ago, Ford was understood to be looking at a mild-hybrid 48V powertrain. To minimise CO2 figures, the firm now believes the engine has to be a full hybrid. “The mild hybrid is not enough,” said our source. The challenge of the new fleet average figure – set industry-wide at 95g/km, but varying according to a car company’s…