The new SEAT Ateca – SEAT’s first SUV – gets class-leading residual values

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The new SEAT Ateca SUV – SEAT’s first foray in to the huge SUV sector – has acquired residual value ratings of up to 59 per cent after three years.

We all know that when we lease a car, the monthly payments are dictated not so much by the amount the car would cost to buy but, especially when interest rates are low, but by the amount the car will depreciate in the time you have it.

The art (and it’s as much an art as a science) of deciding how much a car will be worth after a given amount of time – its residual value – falls to experts like CAP, and can have a big impact on sales for car makers.

That’s why SEAT are busy crowing today that the new Ateca SUV – which went on sale in the UK from £17,990 in April, neatly undercutting the Nissan Qashqai – has been given residual values as high as 59 per cent after three years and 30,000 miles.

That figure is for the Ateca 1.0 TSI S, but an average residual value across the range of 52.6 per cent after three years means the Ateca is going to be more affordable for more people than it otherwise would be.

Richard Harrison from SEAT UK said:

The news for Ateca just keeps getting better and better. Only two weeks ago, it was named Best Crossover in the Auto Express New Car Awards 2016, and now we’re celebrating an RV forecast just shy of 60%.

Mind you, it really is a great all-round proposition, with substance to back up its undeniable style. That probably goes a long way to explaining why it’s already generating the highest level of interest we’ve ever seen for a new SEAT model in the UK.

It may have taken SEAT too long to bring their first SUV to the market, but it does look set to be a success, and maybe enough of a success to put SEAT back in the black?