02 Mar 05
Centrepiece of Seat's stand is a concept car called Leon. Which says it all, really: it's the next Leon hatchback, thinly disguised and glammed-up but otherwise pretty much what we'll be seeing on the roads later in the year.
Seat's current design language was kicked off with the Salsa three-door coupé concept three years ago, whose main design features have shaped the taller, less sleek Altea, but the León is the closest yet to the Salsa original despite having five doors. However, Seat's British designer, Steve Lewis, says the production version won't have the quartet of F1 TV-type video cameras featured in the show car. These relay, to video screens in front of the three passengers, images taken over the driver's shoulder or external images from cameras on the bonnet, at front wheel level and facing rearwards.
Seat is seeking to improve its sporting credibility, and recognises that a proper sports car would help that task. The promising Tango concept, says Lewis, was aborted because Seat has no presence in the US and such a project would be viable only with the volume of US sales. "We have other ideas," he says, "but it depends on what Volkswagen and Audi want to do with sports cars. We have to wait because Seat is the little sister."
