New Ibiza spearheads SEAT's new product offensive
The SEAT three-door Ibiza SportCoupe - available in October
Author: David Miles
Published: 18 July 2008
The all-new Ibiza five-door hatchback models, which go on sale this week, herald the start of a new product offensive by SEAT. Their overall range of models is set to double to 16 by 2012 and their worldwide sales are forecast to more or less double to 800,000 cars by 2015.
Ibiza UK sales will receive a further boost in October this year when the Ibiza three-door SportCoupe versions are introduced and again in 2009 when diesel, Cupra and FR variants are added.
Next week the Spanish car marker SEAT, a member of the Volkswagen Automotive Group, gives the world debut of its three-door Ibiza SportCoupe to the British International Motor Show at ExCel in London.
The Ibiza range of three and five-door hatchbacks is traditionally SEAT’s best selling model range in the UK competing for sales in the B-segment or ‘supermini’ arena as it is known.
Around 13,000 Ibiza models are sold in the UK each year competing against the new generation of ‘superminis’ such as the Vauxhall Corsa, Peugeot 207, Mazda 2, Renault Clio, Skoda Fabia, Fiat Punto and soon the new and larger Ford Fiesta.
This market segment is now the largest in the UK as customers continue to down-size looking for affordable family and business cars with lower running costs and less penal CO2 based road tax charges.
The new five-door Ibiza models with 1.2, 1.4 and 1.6-litre petrol engine options have prices ranging from £8,995 to £11,295. Diesel engine options for three and five-door Ibiza’s, 1.4 and 1.9-litre, and Cupra and FR derivatives will be added to the line up in 2009.
SEAT UK expects the three-door models to remain the most popular, accounting for around 60 per cent of sales, although the growth in this sector is being driven by five-door variants which appeal to family customers down-sizing.
Retail customers should account for 70 per cent of Ibiza UK sales and the majority of buyers choose petrol engines with the 1.4-litre unit being the most popular. Of the three specification levels initially available, S, SE and Sport, SE is predicted to be the most popular.
Driven by their motorsport activities, namely the World and British Touring Car Championships and the Cupra one-make championship, SEAT has seen its sales grow with 34,790 UK registrations last year and 431,024 worldwide.
The new Ibiza is the first SEAT designed under the direction of Luc Donckerwolke, formerly of Lamborghini, and the Ibiza is the first use of the Volkswagen Group’s new ‘supermini’ platform ahead of fellow VW family members, VW, Audi and Skoda.
Details, pictures, prices and review of all hatches and C-segment cars in the UK.
Seat's new cinema advertising campaign features a host of SEAT’s top racing drivers from across Europe, including former SEAT Sport UK star Jason Plato, and the new Ibiza SC.
Seat has unveiled the all-new Ibiza Cupra hot hatch as styled by ex-Lambo man Luc Donckerwolke at the Paris Show.
SEAT will debut the new Ibiza Cupra and low-CO2 Ibiza Ecomotive models at the Paris Motor Show on 2 October.
White-hot coloured new Seat Ibizas and Leons flying out of UK showrooms in 2008, so much so that Seat reckons British motorists are ready for Lumina Orange, Kiwi Green and other new Seat shades this autumn.
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