Photo: Theophilus Chin
Let's get one thing clear: never in a million years do we expect the SEAT Ateca or any other model made by the Spanish automaker to become available as a pickup truck. Back in the early days of the company, there were a few utilitarian vehicles because customers frankly couldn't afford anything else.
Among them was the SEAT Fiorino, a pickup truck that was assembled in Brazil, Argentina and Spain. It was front-wheel-drive, powered by tiny engines with up to 50 horsepower and underpinned by a Fiat.
But the SEAT brand is more about making hot looking family cars than anything else. It's not going to take a perfectly good SUV, chop it and make a pickup truck just for the sake of it. Nor would the company profit from such a move, as trucks are not exactly the most popular type of vehicle in Europe. Here, vans are the traditional work vehicles.
Independent tests with the new Ateca SUV have shown it's a capable car off-road, not just another raised vehicle to take the kids to football practice in. It's the first SEAT available with a rotary knob that switches between off-road driving modes. However, it will never have the pulling power of something like a Range Rover or a Porsche Cayenne, as the biggest engine available is a 2.0-liter turbo one with up to 190 horsepower.
That said, the automotive world has always been fascinated with SUV-to-pickup conversions. Photoshop experts like Theophilus Chin can always be relied upon to deliver the good right after an official debut. Who knows, maybe with a bit of luck, some tuners will decide to make a custom Ateca truck, like what happened with the Range Rover pickup made by Startech. Or maybe SEAT can finance the project for the 2017 edition of the Worthersee GTI Meet.
But the SEAT brand is more about making hot looking family cars than anything else. It's not going to take a perfectly good SUV, chop it and make a pickup truck just for the sake of it. Nor would the company profit from such a move, as trucks are not exactly the most popular type of vehicle in Europe. Here, vans are the traditional work vehicles.
Independent tests with the new Ateca SUV have shown it's a capable car off-road, not just another raised vehicle to take the kids to football practice in. It's the first SEAT available with a rotary knob that switches between off-road driving modes. However, it will never have the pulling power of something like a Range Rover or a Porsche Cayenne, as the biggest engine available is a 2.0-liter turbo one with up to 190 horsepower.
That said, the automotive world has always been fascinated with SUV-to-pickup conversions. Photoshop experts like Theophilus Chin can always be relied upon to deliver the good right after an official debut. Who knows, maybe with a bit of luck, some tuners will decide to make a custom Ateca truck, like what happened with the Range Rover pickup made by Startech. Or maybe SEAT can finance the project for the 2017 edition of the Worthersee GTI Meet.
Google News