Seat has officially presented the Toledo Concept car only a few days before the grand opening of the 82nd Geneva International Auto Salon.
As you can see for yourself, sans the large alloy wheels and the premium interior trim that includes two-tone leather surfaces with red accent stitching, the Toledo is ready to enter production, which it will, as Seat itself admitted that sales will start "later in 2012".
The new Toledo takes the series from one extreme, which was the previous generation's extremely odd-looking MPV shape with a hastily crafted boot, to another, by which we mean "concept's" ultra-conservative three-box design.
The Spanish automaker may claim that the new Toledo "combines the proportions of a classic saloon car with a sporty, almost coupé-like design", but what we see here is a car that closely resembles the VW Jetta sedan both on the exterior and even more so, in the interior. It also looks a lot like the Skoda Mission L study.
However, at 4.48 meters long, the Toledo is close to 200mm (7.9-inches) shorter than the 4.65 meters long Jetta while it also rides on a shorter wheelbase (2.60 meters vs. 2.65 meters).
And unlike the Volkswagen model, it gets a large rear hatch that opens together with the rear window revealing a roomy luggage compartment with more than 500 liters of space.
Seat's boss, James Muir, had this to say about the Toledo Concept:
"The SEAT Toledo Concept illustrates our idea of the perfect mid-range car. It is an excellent combination of emotional design, top-level usability and dynamic driving characteristics. The subsequent production model, our new Toledo, will write a whole new success story with its clear SEAT identity, its excellent quality standard and exceptional value-for-money."
"Following the Mii family and the new Ibiza, the new Toledo marks the next wave in our model offensive and growth strategy," he added.
Seat did not say with which engines the Toledo will be offered, possibly because we all know that it will get the same type of TSI and TDI units available on the rest of the Group's similarly-sized models.
14 Comments:
As so... with brake calipers like this?
It's crying shame, I really though Seat was going places with thie Altea/Leon/Ibiza lineup.
But between the Exeo and this shameless rebadged Jetta, it looks like Seat is now the place where old VAG cars go to die.
There was a period when Audis, Vw, Seat and Skodas all looked different to each other even though they were built under the same group! Now they all just look the same
I don't understand, why all the comments are so negative. It's just a midsized car, not the lambo or porsche... what you expected? Rebadged jetta? - seat mk1 - based on golf/jetta mk2, seat mk2 - on golf/jetta mk4/audi a3, seat mk 3 (total fail) - golf mk5... It's just a simply nice car for simple people. I am realy happy that this time they made not a mpv fail, but this conservative sedan. I got bored of those pokemon look like chinese and korean cars...
SEAT was supposed to be the anti-Alfa Romeo stuff. Stylish, hot blooded latino...
Now what a boring car this is. And like Mii & Citigo, expect the Skoda Mission L to be the same but with different headmaps and bumpers.
At a starting price of 13000 Euro I think is a honest product. Looking for something sportier? wait for the new Leon but you gonna have to pay more...
But it's not a Skoda. Skoda is a simple car simple people. This is a Seat and it should represent something more.
Another VW clone. Thanks heavens they'll never buy Alfa. It's amazing how many people buy cars from this company (VW group) when all they get is boring clones with no styling, zero personality, overrated quality and content and ridicolously high prices.
FAIL
Seat was supposed to make profit. They did not. So they cleverly go with the flow back to the concept of the original Toledo that also was a Jetta with a liftback while looking like a sedan. They sold loads of it and was a differentitor to VW - and will be so again... Best of luck to them!
This is NOT a rebadged Jetta. This is way shorter, 160mm to be precise.
It is slightly dull, but a whole lot better than the pig it replaces, and bound to sell in much higher numbers, which frankly SEAT needs to do in order to survive.
This is actually a rebadge of the VW Polo sedan (Vento in India)
VW Parts bin LOL
So they killed IBL Concept, car that could be identified with "auto emocion" slogan for sure. I'm owner of Seat Leon (the first one), and it's pretty sad for me - Volkswagen AG is making many mistakes with brand that could be it's sport division.
Post a Comment