Seat Leon to continue into next decade with heavy update in 2029

Seat will launch a heavily updated Leon in 2029 as it doubles down on its existing combustion line up and rides out the uncertainty clouding the industry’s transition to electric cars.

The updated Leon will follow the launch of refreshed versions of the Ibiza and Arona next year, new mild-hybrid engines for those models in 2027, and a full-hybrid powertrain for the Leon in 2028.

Details regarding 2029’s Leon remain under wraps, but it will likely be tied to updates made to its Volkswagen Golf platform-mate - itself understood to be in line for a heavy update around the same time as a means of keeping it on sale alongside an exclusively electric new-generation Golf due before the turn of the decade.

As the Cupra-badged Leon will go electric for its next generation at the start of the 2030s based on the same SSP platform as the Golf, Seat/Cupra is most likely to mirror that strategy with the Seat-badged ICE Leon.

A hint at what to expect was given to Autocar on Friday by product chief Carlos Galindo. He indicated that, more generally, the priority for Seat would be to make the brand feel “younger” and more exciting. 

Seat will be repositioned as the “entrance” to the VW Group, a role historically occupied by Skoda, but with a range of models and marketing aimed at a different audience to the more mature Skoda buyer.

“We still have a lot of young customers that want to get a first car and get into the brand, and Seat is representing these young customers better than any other [brand],” he told Autocar.

While Seat doubles down on its existing combustion line up, EVs are still expected to form part of its future – but not until the turn of the decade, former CEO Wayne Griffiths previously told Autocar, adding: “It is not the time for a Seat EV just yet”.

Galindo confirmed to Autocar that this was still the plan under new CEO Markus Haupt, but hybridisation was the correct path for the firm for the time being.

“Taking into consideration how we see the automotive industry currently, this is the right path to do with Seat; to see how electrification finally evolves,” he said.

“We think that the investments that we are doing today in electrifying [hybridising] the brand are on the right path. This will help us to bridge between the current moment of internal-combustion engines and to electrification.

“We’ll see in the future how these evolve and continue to grow, to decide where to go exactly.”