First Sight: Seat Leon

“The Leon is a very honest and simple design, but with character,” says, Mesonero-Romanos, hovering his right hand along the grooves that sweep across the doors. “The concept of lightness within design is very important, and we wanted it to be sporty. But it is made for a large audience, so we needed to stick to quite a simple and clear design.”

We are examining the car from the courtyard within Seat’s design centre, which is located just outside of Barcelona, close to the company’s Martorell plant. It is here that Mesonero-Romanos and his team inspect models in the daylight from as many angles as possible. There is a balcony above that even allows for a bird’s-eye view.

Gallery of CDN photographs of the Leon in ‘Desire Red’

The new Leon is the first Seat to be based on the VW Group’s MQB Evo platform. This is an evolution of the MQB platform, which has been used in numerous models across the Group including the previous Leon generation. The Leon remains an important car for Seat, and must balance desirable design with affordability. Something this new Leon achieves.

The wheelbase is 50mm longer when compared to the third generation, coming in at 2,686mm. The five-door model is 4,368mm long, while the Sportstourer version is 4,642mm. Both variants have been lowered by 3mm and have had 16mm shaved off the width. The A-pillars have been moved back and the bonnet has been extended.

These changes are clearly visible – the new Leon looks much sharper. The sportier stance and revised exterior shape have improved the drag co-efficient by 8%. The front lights are set back and cut into the side of the vehicle with a strong three-dimensional connection between the grille and lamps, while the rear lights are connected by a full-width LED strip. The roof looks flatter and longer too. There is a more deliberate and confident character to the new Leon.

“The Leon is a car that will get you in the stomach,” Mesonero-Romanos continues. “There are cars that people might like due to a rational thinking process because it’s practical and convenient for the family, for example. But we want people to fall in love with the car and fall in love with the design emotionally. They might not listen to the rational argument, they just want it now.”

That’s not to say that the new Leon isn’t practical. The longer wheelbase means that there is more room in the cabin and the boot. There are also lots of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) that are new to the Leon, such as dynamic chassis control (DCC) and adaptive cruise control (ACC).

Inside, the difference to the previous generation really shows. The Cupra Formentor concept Seat showed in February 2019 had many of the same elements inside. Lots of functions have been moved into the touchscreen, the floating, 3-D element, driver focused cockpit and and distinctive air vent surrounds.

Minimalism and functionality were top priority for the interior design team. The 10-inch screen sits at the centre of the dashboard, and can be controlled using speech and gesture recognition in order to reduce clutter on the centre console. Most of the buttons are placed on the steering wheel, with a small cluster also tucked away next to the driver’s door.

The dashboard extends to the doors to create a floating effect, and includes a wraparound light that covers its entire width. As well as ambient lighting that changes depending on the drive mode, the dashboard light also provides functions such as blind spot detection and exit assist.

“The colour and trim of the new Leon follows the theme of the entire design of the car, that aims at: simplicity, balance and good proportions,” Francesca Sangalli, Seat’s head of colour and trim, tells CDN. “Exterior colours express the characterful identity of Seat. In the interior there is a general sense of harmony. The colour and trim reinforces the composition of the car highlighting the floating upper dash with its distinctive grain structure, the wrap around element with contrasted material finish empowered by the linear ambient light, the deco part in contrasted finishes and embroidered graphics on the seats.”

The Leon comes with various different engine options, with four petrol and two diesel variants. There is also an option to have a petrol plug-in hybrid version.