Seat’s first foray into the upper medium segment comes courtesy of VW Group sister brand Audi. The new Exeo is, in fact, nothing more than a mildly made-over version of the previous-generation Audi A4.
The re-styling of the Exeo’s nose is disappointing, lacking the drama of Seat’s new Ibiza, and the rear end hardly departs from the look of the original Audi.
Inside, the Exeo gets the A4 cabrio dashboard – complete with distinctive round air vents – which Seat says is of even higher quality the standard saloon interior. Seat sources also claim that the obvious use of an Audi to provide its first upper-medium car should ‘underpin the buyer’s confidence in Seat in this market niche’.
When the car is launched in the UK, the company expects to sell a modest 5000 cars each year in both saloon and estate forms.
It will go on sale in the UK this May, with a choice of just two common rail turbodiesel engines in 140 and 170bhp forms. The Exeo’s suspension has been re-tuned from the original Audi settings by Seat engineers and the brakes have been uprated.
Prices will kick off at £17,000 for the 140bhp car, though the Exeo is likely to have an extensive list of standard equipment. ‘User-choosers who cannot tick any option boxes on the order form’ are the UK target market, a Seat spokesman revealed.
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Re: Paris show: Seat Exeo
I think that SEAT's position within the VAG group is all too apparent nowadays- poor relation. There seems to be a blatant disregard for the future of this brand by it's owners. It's like Ford and Jaguar all over again....
Re: Paris show: Seat Exeo
The designers at Seat seem to have lost there way somewhat, i'm sure they could have done more with the A4 body, but how fitting that they decided to graft the rear end off a facelift original Cordoba from the year 2000 on to this already ageing body. I also can't believe there's no petrol version in the UK, I've heard the rest of Europe are getting the new TSi engines and the 200 hp 2.0 TFSi, wouldn't this at least give it a chance as a sporting saloon, something that is surely in keeping with Seat's position in the VW group.
Re: Paris show: Seat Exeo
I don't think it's too bad - I like what they've done with the front and rear - I think it looks quite classy, actually. I'm a little more disappointed with the interior. It doesn't seem to fit at all with the rest of Seat's range, namely the Ibiza, and there's way too much carried-over switchgear from the A4 (apart from the dials, steering wheel and air vents). Still, if the Estate is priced well, it could deserve to do well. The new Ibiza is brilliant value, in my opinion, and Seat need to apply that to the rest of their cars. Still, it might look better in the metal!