GENEVA MOTOR SHOW: SEAT Aran SUV leaked ahead of unveil
Image of sporty Spanish SUV appears online a month before Swiss show -- could spearhead brand’s return Down UnderA single image of the production version of the SEAT 20V20 SUV concept, which was revealed last year at the Geneva motor show, has surfaced online.
Believed to be genuine, the pic -- posted on French car blog theautomobilist.fr -- is thought to have been snapped while scrolling through the SEAT SUV’s infotainment system.
According to Theautomobilist, the new SUV will drop its 20V20 name (‘vision veinte veinte’ in Spanish, or 20:20 in English) and be called the Aran instead.
Scheduled to be revealed on February 10, ahead of its public unveiling in Geneva a few weeks later, the new Aran is the car that’s hoped will help Volkswagen’s struggling Spanish brand finally return a profit.
The Aran could also be the car that’s used to help relaunch SEAT in Australia.
Based on the new VW Group MQB architecture, the Aran is in effect a five-seat wagon twinned mechanically with the next-generation Tiguan.
That’s why under the bonnet it will share the VW SUV’s engines with a range of ‘TSI’ turbo-petrol engines outputting up to 220kW and TDI turbo-diesels with up to 176kW, matched to a dual-clutch DSG gearbox and Haldex all-wheel drive. Some markets are almost certain to get front-wheel drive versions as well.
Later on, plug-in hybrid versions of both petrol and diesel are expected.
Thought to share the same dimensions as last year’s concept, the Aran should measure in at 4659mm long, 1841mm wide and 1600mm high.
Said to introduce the firm’s new design language, the Aran seems to stay true to the 2015 Geneva concept.
It’s not known if inside the Aran the SEAT SUV gets a production version of the concept’s Personal Drive Device.
Looking much like a giant coin in the concept, the system acts as the ignition key and saves individual driver profiles. It could also be removed from the car to act as a mobile navigation system.
If SEAT does decide to have another crack at selling cars Down Under it will have its work cut out to make an impression.
The last time a SEAT officially imported cars was almost 17 years ago when the Spanish car-maker, unsuccessfully, retailed cars between 1995-1999 through independent distributor Inchcape.
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