SEAT SUV confirmed for 2016

SEAT has confirmed it is developing its first compact SUV as it tries to tap in to the ever-growing compact SUV market. The SEAT SUV will launch in 2016.

SEAT has been threatening to build a compact SUV for years, and back in 2011 it revealed the IBX Concept (pictured above) which was the SEAT take on the Audi Q3.

Now, finally, it seems VW has signed-off on SEAT’s compact SUV and the new compact SUV will hit the market in 2016, hopefully giving SEAT’s poor sales a real boost.

Expected to be based on the VW MQB platform, the SEAT SUV should enable SEAT to properly compete in Europe and tap in to a market that has grown by 40 per cent in the last few years whilst SEAT’s existing market for its cars has shrunk and been compromised by a weak economy in Europe where the vast majority of SEAT’s sales are made.

The new SUV has been in development at SEAT’s Technical Centre in Martorell for the last two years so, although it won’t launch until 2016 we will probably see it at Geneva or Frankfurt in 2015.

SEAT Chairman Jürgen Stackmann said:

This is an excellent piece of news, since it takes SEAT into a new territory, in one of the largest and fastest growing segments in the world.

The SUV is an important pillar in the future corporate strategy and is a major step forward on the road to reaching sustainable profitability for the company.

If SEAT get their compact SUV right it could end SEAT’s unenviable reign as VW’s unprofitable Spanish outpost.