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Buyers of the next generation of Volkswagen-developed small cars will have one more option box to tick when placing their order: all-wheel-drive. The new platform, dubbed PQ25, will find its way underneath a handful of new models, spanning the range from the low-end (SEAT), mid-grade (VW) and luxury (Audi). All-wheel-drive won’t be an option for the new SEAT Ibiza, but consumers of the next VW Polo (specifically the CrossPolo) might be able to outfit their tiny runabout with AWD, while the Audi A1, due out in late 2009, will continue the automaker’s love affair with quattro.

[Source: Automotive News – sub. req’d]

SEAT has some ambitious plans. The Spanish subsidiary of Volkswagen is targeting a twofold increase in sales from 400,000 to 800,000 units by 2018, but currently has a line-up of seven models that, for the most part, are little more than rebodied VWs with a poorer reputation. While speaking with the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, SEAT CEO Erich Schmitt outlined an aggressive expansion plan that involves cutting down its workforce, reducing manufacturing times, drastically broadening its model range and improving the brand’s image.

Having recently laid-off 900 workers, Schmitt says his company needs to trim another 700. Production time for the next-generation Ibiza hatchback will be cut down to 18 hours, compared to the 27 it takes to assemble the current version. But here’s the kicker: Schmitt says that its model line-up will more than double from the current seven to fifteen by 2012 and shoot up to forty by 2018. Yes, you read that right: 40 models. We don’t know how Schmitt is counting (trim levels?), but 40 models is closer to the total range of the whole Volkswagen Group than it is to SEAT’s own product range.
[Source: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung via Carscoop]

The SEAT Leon Supercopa series that visits tracks in seven European countries is, according to SEAT, “the most powerful single-brand competition in Europe.” In celebration of the series, Seat is making a special edition SEAT Leon Copa Edition that arguably looks even hotter than the race car.

The 2007 race car had a turbocharged inline 4 with 301 horsepower. The special edition version for the street gets the 2.0-liter TFSI, putting out 285 hp and 265 lb-ft. That means you get sixteen fewer chevaux than the race car, but fourteen more pounds of churn. With Eibach springs, bigger brakes, a SEAT Sport bodykit and 18″ wheels, the package is good for a 5.9-second run to 62-MPH. If you want one, you’ll need to scrounge up €38,500, and you’ll need to hurry: SEAT is only making 55 of them. Oh, and you’ll need to live in Europe, too.
source:autoblog