Americans have long been admirers of the fast and flashy Italian Ferraris, and the classic, sleek British Jaguars. Volkswagen brought to America and appreciation of the practical workhorse that was economical to operate, easy to maintain but still fun. However in the United States, a seat has always been vacant place to sit. Yet, in Spain SEAT refers to one of Spain's well established auto manufacturers highly respected in Europe and the UK. Recently SEAT became a subsidiary of Volkswagen-Audi. So now have a mix of Spanish artistic passion and practicality with German precision engineering.
In 1999 SEAT began production of the Leon, a 5-door hatchback. The Leon's were SEAT's best selling car, and were targeted as a sportier and less expensive version of the Volkswagen Golf.
The Leon has a front mounted engine with front-wheel and four-wheel drive. It might possibly have more engine options available than any other car today. A potential buyer can choose among six diesel engines, one valve engine, three valve turbocharged engines, four 8-valve engines, and two petrol engines.
In some areas the Leon was available with four-wheel drive. The Leon was equipped with electric power steering. It also had installed software with the capability of sensing that a car is starting into a skid. This was called the Driver Steering Recommendation System. However the idea of robotic control over the steering made many drivers more than a little nervous. So the company emphasized that this was only a suggestion that the driver could override at any time.
The Leon sold well in Britain although it never equaled the MK4 Golf. The car was popular with the upper class, younger crowd in Mexico. However, the Leon had problems in Mexico due to the condition of the roads. The sport-tuned suspension of the Leon was not designed to cope with the ubiquitous potholes and speed bumps that characterize Mexican roads.
The next generation of Leon was the Mk2 that went into production in 2005. It presents a more stylish image but the engine range is more limited. However, there is still a wide choice of engines. Both the Mk1 and the Mk2 are small cars intended for family use.
SEAT continued to introduce sports images. The top of the line is the 2.0 TFSI Cupra model. The Cupra can go from 0-100 km in 6.4 seconds making it the most powerful SEAT model ever produced. Again, buyers can choose from a variety of diesel and gasoline powered 4 cylinder engines.
SEAT has ventured into the electric car market with the Leon Twin Drive Ecomotive, which is a series plug-in hybrid that is powered by lithium-ion batteries.
SEAT has also entered various models in motorsport competitions such as the ECTS, an Italian endurance series, the World Touring Car Championship and the British Touring Car Championship.
An area in which SEAT excels is in value for the equipment offer as compared with cars in similar categories. The Leon 1.6 Essence model, that was equipped with electric front windows and a CD player was priced at 11,495 pounds in UK. The Ford Focus, offering identical accessories and engine power sold for fifteen hundred pounds more.
Various racing video games also feature the Leon. The Leon appears in Need for Speed; Pro Street, Forza Motorsport, and "Race - The Official WTCC Game". In the game TOCA Race Driver 2, Leon is part of a championship series consisting of races that use the SEAT Leon exclusively.
