Seat launches new Leon
Seat has shown off the new Leon hatchback and estate, a vehicle aiming to enliven the compact segment.
The company has invested €1.1 billion in order to bring vehicles with more efficient engines, next levels of connectivity and driving assistance, great dynamism and more eye-catching aesthetics to the market.
The Seat Leon has always been a core pillar in the brand’s vehicle line-up, and a reference point for the segment, proven by its more than 2.2 million unit sales over its three-generation life. The fourth-generation has been designed and developed to continue this huge accomplishment and take it to the next level in terms of connectivity, efficiency, dynamism, and safety.
The all-new Seat Leon is designed, developed and produced in Barcelona, at the brand’s Martorell facilities.
“The Seat Leon is our best-selling model and we want to continue its great track. Therefore Seat has invested more than 1.1 billion euros in the all-new Seat Leon, mainly in the vehicle development and in the improvement of the production facilities,” said Carsten Isensee, Seat’s Acting President and Vice-President for Finance and IT.
“2019 has been a record year for the company. We have sold more than 570,000 cars, the highest volume in our 70 years of history and we have achieved one of the best production figures ever, as we produced more than 500,000 cars in Martorell. A great basis to start this 2020,” added Mr Isensee.
Niall Phillips, Brand Director at Seat Ireland commented: “The Leon is a firm favourite amongst Irish customers and we are confident that they will love the fourth-generation Leon even more.
“This model will bring a new level of technology, design and safety to this segment and we are excited to see the all-new Leon on Irish roads from May onwards.
“The Leon is hugely important to the brand, not only because it represents Seat’s core DNA and values, but it will open up the brand to an even wider audience with the introduction of the mild hybrid and plug-in hybrid powertrains.”
In spite of the rise of SUVs and crossovers, the Seat Leon remains a core model for the brand in the Irish market. Since the first Leon was sold in Ireland in 2000, over 13,300 Seat Leon’s have been sold in Ireland from the first three generations.
The all-new Seat Leon’s interior is the pinnacle of functionality, minimalism, and sleekness. Its smooth-surfaced, slim yet wide dashboard gives the impression of lightness, and a degree of ‘floatability’.
Everything in the cabin has been designed to be ergonomically precise, increasing interior comfort for occupants, whether sitting in the driver’s seat, as a passenger or in the rear.
The interior’s main protagonist is its central 10” infotainment screen, which includes gesture recognition, delivering precise interaction with the occupants and reducing the number of physical buttons required. Although functions that are more critical to use remain controlled by more conventional interaction systems.
And the all-new Seat Leon mixes it appealing design with practicality too. The five-door Seat Leon offers a boot capacity of 380 litres (identical to the previous generation), while the Sportstourer offers 617 litres of boot capacity, 30 litres more than the previous generation.
The new Leon’s offer of standard petrol engines are all direct-injection, turbocharged units and provide power outputs between 110hp and 190hp. The lower output engine which produces 110hp of power is a 1.0 litre TSI three-cylinder units, which is used in the Seat Leon for the first time.
Available with 150hp, the larger 1.5 litre petrol engine offers a level of performance that will bring a smile to the face of the driver but with the reassurance of optimised efficiency. At the top of the tree is the 190hp 2.0 litre TSI unit linked to the dual-clutch transmission.
Diesel remains an important technology in reducing carbon emissions, and the all-new Leon benefits from three diesel powertrain options: all 2.0 litre TDI units with outputs of 115hp and 150hp.
For the first time, the all-new Seat Leon also encompasses 48V mild hybrid technology (eTSI), allowing the compact car to provide even greater efficiency levels (1.0 TSI 110hp and 1.5 TSI 150hp, both offered exclusively with the DSG transmission).
And as Seat expands its use of electrification, the fourth-generation Leon also includes an advanced plug-in hybrid variant. Mating a 1.4 litre TSI petrol engine electric motor, 13kWh lithium-ion battery pack and six-speed DSG transmission, providing 204hp of power and an electric only range of some 60km (WLTP).