Photo: X-Tomi Design
SEAT is supposed to be Volkswagen's hot-blooded Spanish twin. But the company is built on borrowing tech, not making mind-blowing originals. But that could be a good thing because we are living in the era of brilliant parts sharing schemes.
We can trace a line from the Fiat-based early SEATs like the 133 all the way to today's 300 horsepower Leon Cupra having the Golf R engine. But somewhere in the middle, there's a sedan (and a wagon) called Exeo.
It's been out of production for a few years, but second-hand car buyers still like to talk up a storm about the Audi A4 underpinnings. I don't think SEAT will ever make another Exeo because demand for sedans is weak.
But what about a coupe, like the one in this rendering by X-Tomi? SEAT could cut a few corners in the interior quality department and offer the A5 for less money.
The base A5 costs €37,000, but a decent one with an auto gearbox and some options is €45,000 or more. So is there a market for a slightly cheaper SEAT Salsa? While undoubtedly small, we think that there is, because the majority of Leons sold in Germany cost around 2/3 of that.
What's more, a Cupra model starts at around €30,000 and can reach 40k in latest AWD wagon configuration. But SEAT's biggest problem is always sales volume. The Salsa would probably sell in the region of 10-20,000 units per year, making it a wasteful product to develop.
The era of the halo car is over, but SEAT would undoubtedly benefit from having a sexy as hell AWD coupe. The one X-Tomi created has many of its features borrowed from the Leon. All that black plastic makes it look cheap, though.
The only slight problem we have with such a project is that even the new A5 is not a fun car to drive, more of a fast GT. It would have been nice for VW Group to have a cheap RWD coupe platform. But the BlueSport Concept was stillborn, unfortunately.
It's been out of production for a few years, but second-hand car buyers still like to talk up a storm about the Audi A4 underpinnings. I don't think SEAT will ever make another Exeo because demand for sedans is weak.
But what about a coupe, like the one in this rendering by X-Tomi? SEAT could cut a few corners in the interior quality department and offer the A5 for less money.
The base A5 costs €37,000, but a decent one with an auto gearbox and some options is €45,000 or more. So is there a market for a slightly cheaper SEAT Salsa? While undoubtedly small, we think that there is, because the majority of Leons sold in Germany cost around 2/3 of that.
What's more, a Cupra model starts at around €30,000 and can reach 40k in latest AWD wagon configuration. But SEAT's biggest problem is always sales volume. The Salsa would probably sell in the region of 10-20,000 units per year, making it a wasteful product to develop.
The era of the halo car is over, but SEAT would undoubtedly benefit from having a sexy as hell AWD coupe. The one X-Tomi created has many of its features borrowed from the Leon. All that black plastic makes it look cheap, though.
The only slight problem we have with such a project is that even the new A5 is not a fun car to drive, more of a fast GT. It would have been nice for VW Group to have a cheap RWD coupe platform. But the BlueSport Concept was stillborn, unfortunately.
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