SEAT Mii (2012) - SEAT's VW Up!

SEAT Mii

The SEAT Mii – the SEAT take on the VW Up! City car – is revealed ahead of its arrival in the UK in Spring 2012.

Volkswagen are making sure the development costs of the new VW Up! City car get covered as quickly as possible, with not just the VW Up! hitting the markets in 2012 but the Skoda version – the Skoda Citigo – bowing in too. And to that duo you can now add a third version – the new SEAT Mii.

The SEAT Mii is exactly what you would expect – it’s an Up! with a bit of added ‘Olé!’ But we’re not sure the headlights from a car twice the size work – the Mii looks a bit like a startled rabbit.

Still, at least it separates the Mii from its Czech and German cousins, which isn’t easy when it’s within a gnats of its cousins in dimensions and style.

Starting point will be a three-door Mii – which will go on sale in Spain before the end of 2011 but not arrive in the UK until Spring 2012 – and the oily bits will be a simple choice of either a 59bhp or 74bhp 3-pot petrol with emissions of just 97g/km for the Ecomotive version .

SEAT appears to be going the MINI/Fiat 500/DS3 route of enormous interior range of expressive colourways so every buyer can stamp their individual style on the Mii. Which is fine for the new buyer, but it does mean there will be a lump of Miis on the market in the future with some very hard to shift interior combos.

The Mii is Skoda’s bash at a market it hasn’t had a presence in for quite a while, and heralds the Spanish car makers push to be a viable VW satellite.

Depending on price – which we don’t yet know – the Skoda Mii could be a popular little city car.