SEAT Says It Will Keep Making Cars, Officially Announces New Models

The announcement was buried inside SEAT's operating profit press release, which reveals that the VW Group-owned brand will update the Ibiza, Arona, Leon, and Ateca. Curiously, there's nothing about the Tarraco, which shares its underpinnings with the similarly-sized Skoda Kodiaq.

"We want to get the SEAT brand back to where it belongs, continuing the double-digit growth from last year with new investments in the brand and its models," said the CEO of SEAT and Cupra, Wayne Griffiths. "We are also looking at what we can deliver in the electric world under the SEAT brand. When it comes to SEAT, I promise you that the best is still to come," he added.

The auto marque's first fresh product will be the Leon. This model will be facelifted in a few months, with the usual design revisions at the front and rear being joined by technology updates, which will apply to the hatchback and estate body styles. Before that, Cupra will unveil its own updated Leon alongside the Formentor in the coming weeks. We have yet to learn when the second mid-cycle refresh of the Ateca is due.

Subsequently, SEAT will introduce the second facelifts for the Ibiza supermini and Arona subcompact crossover. These two models will debut sometime next year, and they are expected to feature the usual styling revisions with new front and rear bumpers, headlamps and taillights, and perhaps new colors and wheels. The automaker may also revise the technology and safety features alongside other aspects.

Curiously, there is no word about the Tarraco. The brand's flagship crossover debuted in 2018, sharing many components with the old VW Tiguan Allspace, as well as the Skoda Kodiaq and Audi Q3, among others. The mid-size model is in dire need of a new lease on life, as six years is a long time for any modern ride to go by without serious updates. Nevertheless, reports speak of a possible demise of the Tarraco, which might not be revived at all, not even in the electric era.

On a different note, SEAT's electrified and performance brand, Cupra, is finally coming to America, although only to selected states on both coasts. The company will cross the Atlantic Ocean by the end of the decade with two models in its portfolio. One of them will be a battery-electric version of the Formentor, according to CEO Wayne Griffiths, and the other will be a larger crossover that will also be an electron-sipping machine. The latter will be assembled locally at the VW Group's factories, including Mexico.