Seat announces Exio prices

Seat Exio - a re-badged Audi A4

It was always a game motor manufacturers played. Re-badge an outgoing model with a subsidiary marque’s name, throw in a few ‘Design’ features, and Hey Presto. New car!

Fiat has played the game in the past, and VW are not averse to it. So it was not a huge surprise when Seat announced the forthcoming Exeo at the Paris Motor Show that it was in fact a re-badged, outgoing Audi A4. Not that there’s anything wrong with the old A4 – it is a fine car.

But now Seat has announced UK Car prices for the Exio and the model line-up. There is a choice of two diesel engine – a 141bhp and a 168bhp version – together with a petrol turbo putting out 198bhp. All three cars get a 6-speed manual ‘box as standard.

So what about the prices? Well, they start at around £17.5k, which is a couple of thousand less than the current A4 starts at. But for £17.5k you could get a pretty good spec 08/58 Audi A4. Which makes the Exeo seem something less of a bargain.

The re-badging is a good way to utilise tooling that has already paid for itself, and give a subsidiary marque a prestige vehicle at a decent price. But I don’t think that Seat has pitched this right. Drop the starting price to £14,995 and you could have a winner. But at £17.5k I think the shrewd money would simply go and buy a few month old A4. More prestige. Better re-sale value.

Bit of a no-brainer, really.