SEAT Leon CUPRA R revealed - Debut in Frankfurt

Nada so it appears. Still looks aesthetically challenged.

totally agree...they are becoming so boring...

@politz LOL... Man are you kiddin'? This is still one of the hottest models out there. Its design especially the side lines - coming out from the 2001 SEAT Salsa concept - has shown the way (and been copied) for other cars like the current Mazda 3, the Hyundai i30 or even the UPCOMING Opel/Vauxhall Astra! One must be blind not to tell that the SEAT Leon is one of the most modern cars, or even claim this is a dated design! For Gawd's sake!!!

I find it kind of hard to agree with you there Politz. VW big wigs are currently in a delima as to make a choice to admit the Polo to the U.S market. I don't think that VW North America would find it feasible to take on the Leon within the U.S. market. It may take away sales from the GTI.

Hey, nothing special here... two separate messages, two separate thoughts. I just felt like stating, first, that the Leon was starting to show its age, at least to me. And then, since I DO LIKE Seat and Skoda cars, and since they're basically budget minded VWs, I thought it could be a good idea to sell them in the US, since American customers are becoming less brand concious - just look at Kia and Hyundai.

I only think it is strange when you 're saying that the Leon's looks feels tired and it is showing its age, not to dislike the Exeo or the Superb...

Yes, it is only you. As far as I can see in your profile, you are a Skoda fan. Hey, what's up with you guys, are you afraid SEAT's competition inside the VW group? Well, you should not, the folks there in SEAT don't make up those ugly, crappy designs like the Skoda Superb or the Fabia!! Take a look at how SEAT is making nice sporty well-priced cars like the SEAT Leon and at how their design is leading in the automotive world. At least SEAT innovates instead of copying other brands, what Skoda has been doing for years. Nevertheless you can be proud of your choice for the first generation Fabia: isn't it true that Skoda is still using the dated 1999 platform for its current Skoda Fabia Mk2? The Fabia Mk2 remains the only one VAG supermini car to be using nowadays the old generation platform, the same being used in the Fabia Mk1. If it were for one brand to disappear, it would rather be for Skoda, their lines haven't contributed at all in the evolution of the design language. What they have made in Skoda over the last years is nothing more than overestimated cars and lately too overpriced .

"...MILLIONS of cars..." I hope you 've misspelled, you might have wanted to write TRILLIONS! "...BOTTOM..." Hahaha, where did you find that info? Actually this your own conclusion and please mind keeping it for yourself since you don't know facts: SEAT's rise in export sales in 2009 has hit a DECADE record high despite the decline in the internal market of Spain but also despite the economical world crisis. SEAT also sells outside Europe largely in Mexico and has been extremely successful there too, the same way Skoda sells ie. in China or in Eastern Europe - like in your own country Romania. That simple. In case you also don't know, Skoda sells at the present moment in a larger number of countries than SEAT as part of a market sharing between the brands of the VAG group, so your saying that it sells more is frankly irrelevant. So what is your point? You seem to be frustrated when the Cupra is one of the few VAG models to get the most powerful version of the EU5 VAG 2.0TSI engine up to 265 hp (the previous was up to 240 hp) and you don't think this is quite a change. You didn't either notice this is the recently facelifted version of a car that in terms of design already hits the rock in its segment, so there could be no reason for major changes in it (and yes in my own country I 've seen lots of fl Leons and just to inform you there are several substantial changes made to this car, like the larger windscreen in the back offering much greater visibility, the XDS system, some changes made to the interior like the new steering wheel-climatronic-multimedia system, the marvelous new alcantara seats and also some trully minor changes to the exterior styling like the slightly redesigned bumpers, lights etc. There was no need after all...) . And now I suggest you 'd better go and get a look at those awful Fabia, Roomster and Superb or whatever else you might think it's worth to look at your favourite Skoda range, instead of bothering with SEAT. And in case you are that anxious to know about the next SEAT Leon Mk3, then you 'll have to wait till 2011-2012 in order to see the next class-leading car in the small compact car segment.

Why does Skoda sell more than SEAT you ask? I could include the question, why are there so many Dacia, SsangYong, Hyunday, Kia... on the streets. Because the people buying them don't care about the looks. They simply don't give a rat?s a55 about how the car will look in their driveway because there is no driveway to put it on. Cheap, and I mean cheap and not low priced cars will always have a demographic and since the times were tough in the last few years, more people decided to buy a 10'000 ? car instead of a 25'000 ? car. Point taken? Whilst people shopping for a Skoda would not buy a SEAT they would buy a Dacia or a Kia. In the end they buy a Skoda spending a little more, because they know it's coming from VW and this can't be a bad thing. Don?t get me wrong, Skoda is great at what they are doing but we?re talking about a whole different target audience. On the other hand, SEAT is faced with heavier competition like Mazda, Ford, Honda, VW... so people tend to buy different brands due to different likings. The market is saturated with similar cars and therefore the numbers will be splitted between the different offerers.