My New Car: Seat Leon Cupra R

[Waugh-terfall]

That's one gorgeous Cupra. Seriously jelous.
I'm looking at 1.6 S's, absolutely no competition
I can't believe how clean and new it looks, especially inside. It looks almost new! It seems you've bought an absolute gem. Congratulations!

[ScionDriver]

I like it very much good choice, enjoy it when you get it.

[fisetdavid26]

Very nice car! Congrats.

[Clivey]

That's a very clean example - I wish all cars could be found in that condition!

Have fun with her and take care of her - I wish you many miles of happy motoring!

[NSXType-R]

Nice little hot hatch!

[Quiggs]

Lower it.

Abso-****ing-lutely.

[ZeTurbo]

Great stuff! should have gone for the yellow though...

[whiteballz]

Wheres the egg nog test

[NicFromLA]

Sweet. I wish they sold Seat in the US. It wouldn't even be a big deal for VW to import it.

[Quiggs]

Sweet. I wish they sold Seat in the US. It wouldn't even be a big deal for VW to import it.

Dealer network.
Parts distribution network.
Advertising.
Certifying cars for emissions.
Certifying cars for crash standards.
Training sales/technical people.
Building corporate infrastructure.

Yeah, it's no big deal.

Edit: And that's not even getting into Seat cannibalizing Volkswagen sales. See: GM Corporate model.

[NicFromLA]

Dealer network.
Parts distribution network.
Advertising.
Certifying cars for emissions.
Certifying cars for crash standards.
Training sales/technical people.
Building corporate infrastructure.

Yeah, it's no big deal.

Edit: And that's not even getting into Seat cannibalizing Volkswagen sales. See: GM Corporate model.

I say its not a big deal compared to the complexity of introducing Alfa or Citroen to the US because you can piggyback it on VW's parts and dealer network. In terms of cannibalizing sales, I know that in Europe there are VW and Seat dealers next door to each other. I have no idea how VW deals with that, but it seems to work for them.

I pray almost daily for the day when I could buy a Nuovo 500 or C6 in the US, but I feel like I have a real shot with the Leon Cupra because of the VW connection.

[Jack_Bauer]

I'd see the biggest obstacle to Seat starting up in the States is that the average American motorist has probably never even heard of Seat. They don't have any kind of cache or auto-enthusiast kudos like Alfa Romeo do. It would be crazy for VAG to try to market a new brand to the American market completely from scratch, especially when the Seat model line-up is, in general, completely unremarkable.

That's not me having a dig at Seat, I like their cars and the marque. They build nice, well made family cars with the odd sporty variant thrown in. But Volkswagen already does pretty much exactly the same thing in the American market, and they more than have their hands full trying to compete with the likes of Toyota, Honda etc in the reasonably-priced family car market.

[NicFromLA]

I'd see the biggest obstacle to Seat starting up in the States is that the average American motorist has probably never even heard of Seat. They don't have any kind of cache or auto-enthusiast kudos like Alfa Romeo do. It would be crazy for VAG to try to market a new brand to the American market completely from scratch, especially when the Seat model line-up is, in general, completely unremarkable.

That's not me having a dig at Seat, I like their cars and the marque. They build nice, well made family cars with the odd sporty variant thrown in. But Volkswagen already does pretty much exactly the same thing in the American market, and they more than have their hands full trying to compete with the likes of Toyota, Honda etc in the reasonably-priced family car market.

All true. However, Seat could be a good marque to use to bring even lower priced cars than the Golf to the US. I could see a rational of bringing the Ibiza and something comparable to the Smart car designated as a Seat to the US.

Then again, listening to Americans calling them 'seets' instead of 'say-ats' might be pretty painful.

[Zytek_Fan]

I'd see the biggest obstacle to Seat starting up in the States is that the average American motorist has probably never even heard of Seat. They don't have any kind of cache or auto-enthusiast kudos like Alfa Romeo do. It would be crazy for VAG to try to market a new brand to the American market completely from scratch, especially when the Seat model line-up is, in general, completely unremarkable.

That's not me having a dig at Seat, I like their cars and the marque. They build nice, well made family cars with the odd sporty variant thrown in. But Volkswagen already does pretty much exactly the same thing in the American market, and they more than have their hands full trying to compete with the likes of Toyota, Honda etc in the reasonably-priced family car market.

You can get Seats in Mexico and Central America, so I don't think it would be too difficult for VAG to break the market...


There's a rumour floating around that Alfa Romeo will be announcing a program in the American Le Mans Series (most likely with the 8C Competizione) that could signal the return of Alfa to the US

[fisetdavid26]

Perhaps the Fórmula would be a nice Seat model to introduce to the US market, much life Alfa Romeo and their 8C... not quite in the same category though, and the Fórmula is a 7-year old concept but still...