For a long time, whenever asked, Seat somehow evaded the question of adding electrified powertrains to their fleet, and it was mostly because it was expensive for their targeted markets and customers. But something interesting has happened lately, specifically at the launch of the facelifted Leon, where some indications about the possible EV from this company emerged giving us notice that it might be just around the corner.
At the already mentioned reveal, product strategy, and market research executive Enrique Pastor talked about a possibility that the all-electric vehicle from this company might be introduced before the arrival of the new large SUV model. Mr. Pastor thus forced us to think about what might be coming our way. Is it going to be an entirely new model or it will be an all-electric version of the facelifted Ateca or new Leon which are both due to see the light of day in the period which nicely fits into EV release plans. At the Leon launch, one of the topics were hybrid and electric vehicles and many times it was pointed out the absence of such vehicles in the Seat’s lineup. That is exactly what sparked the discussion about the possibility of Seat’s bringing first ever model of that kind.
Another source from Spanish company verified for us that the talks of the hybrid and EV options were made before, but after some calculations, it was decided to scratch them for the time being because they were simply too expensive for the targeted markets. The talk about when the hybrid vehicle might start wearing a Seat badge was very quickly drowned by Seat’s statement saying such vehicle will not exist “within two more years”. Mr. Pastor has very elusively circled around talks about the possible autonomous vehicle from Seat anytime soon. He said that fully autonomous cars are still far away and that such car bearing a Seat badge will have to reflect the company’s DNA in some other ways upon its arrival. He also stayed very secretive about the company’s plans for a large SUV, saying that currently, they are “thinking of” such option but so far nothing is confirmed.
