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SEAT Pulls Leon X-Perience From UK Lineup, Extremely Poor Sales Are To Blame

The Leon X-Perience, as highlighted in yours truly’s test drive of the SEAT-branded brother of the Volkswagen Golf Alltrack, is an understated car. The type of car that can do it all, from going to the shops to a weekend trip, thanks to the wagon body style and 4Drive all-wheel-drive.
SEAT Leon X-Perience 7 photos
Photo: SEAT
SEAT Leon X-Perience in the Sahara desertSEAT Leon X-Perience in the Sahara desertSEAT Leon X-Perience in the Sahara desertSEAT Leon X-Perience in the Sahara desertSEAT Leon X-Perience in the Sahara desertSEAT Leon X-Perience in the Sahara desert
Introduced in mid-2014 and facelifted in 2017, the X-Perience is without a shadow of a doubt the most complete package in the Leon’s range. Available with both turbo gasoline and diesel engines, the X-Perience is not selling as well as the Golf Alltrack despite the fact it’s nicer to look at.

This stands true in the United Kingdom in particular, where SEAT decided to drop the Leon X-Perience from the lineup. Citing a spokesperson, Autocar reports that "fewer than 50" examples of the Haldex-equipped longroof have been sold in the Albion in 2017. And that’s very, very poor.

Just how few, you ask? “Just 16 examples” highlights the British publication, based on figures from the Society of Motor Traders and Manufacturers. To put the result into perspective, sales in the UK in 2017 are 104 units short of the 2016 running total. And that’s bad, very bad.

The Golf Alltrack hasn’t been doing too well either, with the British public buying 72 examples of the breed in 2017, 290 units down on the previous year. Even the Skoda Octavia Scout finds it hard to make ends meet in this part of the world, tallying 825 cars in the calendar year 2017.

What’s happening, you ask? “These low numbers suggest buyers in Britain are shifting to the compact SUV segment,” and that’s not even surprising considering that automakers are launching crossover after crossover after crossover. It appears that Europeans can’t get enough of this type of vehicle, and that means trouble for traditional body styles.

Buick, on the other hand, goes against the market’s trends in the U.S. of A. with the Regal TourX. Only recently, the General Motors-owned brand announced that the TourX is predicted to account for half of Regal sales.
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About the author: Mircea Panait
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After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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