Where is Seat going?

[Dutch4x4]

The new Toledo...

And:

http://autotelegraaf.nl/vanonzeredactie/?id=24181

I think we are witnessing a change of direction from trying to be the Spanish Alfa to trying to be the Iberian Renault...

Oh well.

[robmawer]

It's like someone took an old two-tone Volvo estate and put it in a pencil sharpener.

And shoved a big @rse on it!

Rob.

[redbaron]

megane / a-class / smart in horriffic cross breed shocker!

[Chavyboy]

Have they run out of paint cause the bottom half is rusty ?

[simon]

WTF is that supposed to be.

I think you would be hard pushed to find something about that "car" that would appeal to anybody!

Oh well, takes all sorts I suppose!

EDIT: The alloys would look nice on an octy though....

[roo]

It looks like an extra lardy Megane to me.

[MonkeyHanger]

What the hell is that?

Methinks the design dept were out on a bender the night before they came up with that thing.

[mannyo]

Very renault like, but whats with the interior, this example is very orange.

[Freakcrab]

Um. I like it.

Nice wheels and cool exhaust. Not a great colour scheme though.

:sofahide:

[driveforward]

Here's the discussion on SCN : http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/showthread.php?t=35544

Strange how everyone reckons it looks cack.......

[Dutch4x4]

Well, astonishment and disgust were the main reactions among the Dutch Seat fraternity too!

As was said on seatcupra.net, they are launching one MPV after another - first the Altea, now the Toledo, and the new Leon previews show much of the same. That's not the VAG sports brand it was set out to be, was it?

Another often seen reaction is that the new Octavia suddenly looks very interesting...

So very much a change of direction. Looks like Seat is willingly alienating the sporting Seat driver - is VAG betting on them moving to the Golf V or the Octavia II? - in favour of reaching out to the "new bourgeois" market that is now cornered by the French. The question is, will they attract more customers than they are driving out?

[Witchfinder]

I think we are witnessing a change of direction from trying to be the Spanish Alfa to trying to be the Iberian Renault...

Perhaps that's good news for Skoda. Maybe they'll finally be allowed to compete properly with the performance boys.

[Quinten]

My word that is ugly.

[Dutch4x4]

Perhaps that's good news for Skoda. Maybe they'll finally be allowed to compete properly with the performance boys.

Quite possibly - I see that a lot of Seat performance customers are contemplating a switch to the new Octy once it has RS and 4x4 versions. But there's a lot of mention of A3s and Golfs too, so have VAG got it right? Scare the current customer base away to more expensive brands within the group and target a new range of customers outside the group? Could work but sounds like a highly risky exercise...

[roo]

Quite possibly - I see that a lot of Seat performance customers are contemplating a switch to the new Octy once it has RS and 4x4 versions. But there's a lot of mention of A3s and Golfs too, so have VAG got it right? Scare the current customer base away to more expensive brands within the group [/b'] and target a new range of customers outside the group? Could work but sounds like a highly risky exercise...

What, Skoda???

I can understand how you are thinking, as at the moment all thecars are fundamentaly the same, Golf 4/Beetle/A3 1/Octavia 1/Toledo/Leon/Bora/TT. You could go from one to the other and not really notice too much difference. It looks like VAG is saying, lets make our brands more individual even though it is turning SEAT into a dodgy Renault clone, it will probably do short term good as it will atract buyers who don't like shoddy french cars but like the design.

[Stuart_J]

Well its got a certain something, Im just trying to work out what it is.

It seems like the sort of thing you would get if all the European Manufacturers got together to design a car they could all make, sort of comprimised in every aspect & making no real statement apart from Euro bore

[Dutch4x4]

My theory has just been confirmed by a major Dutch Seat dealer.

In a recent pan-European conference in Barcelona the Seat sales director told the dealers that Seat will not become the sporting VAG brand. Instead, it will become the "sexy" and "daring" brand within the Audi Brand Group.

This change of direction to lifestyle marketing has come through learning that Piech's standardisation strategy has led to cannibalisation and inter-brand competition.

So is there going to be another sporting VAG brand? I'd say there isn't. "Performance" is not a lifestyle. My guess is that all VAG brands will simply create sporty versions of their different lifestyle models while trying to compete with non-VAG brands.

So will it look something like this?

Audi will compete with BMW and Mercedes. VW will compete with Ford and Toyota. Seat will compete with Renault, Peugeot and Citro

[ScoobyChris]

Skoda will compete with Opel, Nissan and Fiat. All of them will have performance cars of some sort, using the same underlying engines and technology.

Bring on the Skoda's equivalent to the 350Z and the Skyline

Chris

[Stimps]

The new Toledo is pretty ugly, although quite similar to a few other cars out there.

I'd rather have one of these...