The Spanish carmaker has released details of a new Leon hybrid which can run on electric power or its petrol engine.
SEAT has coined the term ‘Twin Drive’ for the hybrid vehicle which runs on its electrical component at low speeds such as in urban environments while switching to its conventional petrol engine for longer and faster journeys.
The prototype unveiled has its electric motor powered by lithium-ion batteries and extensive modification has been carried out on other areas of the car including the gerarbox, brakes, heating and cooling systems.
SEAT chairman Erich Schmitt, along with Volkswagen Group Executive Committee member and Chairman of SEAT’s Board of Directors, Francisco García Sanz, unveiled the radical Leon prototype.
Mr García Sanz said: ‘Half way through the last century we made a decisive contribution to putting a whole generation on wheels. Today, 50 years on, we also want to be leading players at the beginning of a process of development and industrialisation of this type of car.’
Pencilled in to arrive in showrooms by 2014, the SEAT Leon Twin Drive Ecomotive (to give it its full name) is just part of the company’s plan to further improve and refine its Ecomotive range of vehicles, which currently includes the Ibiza, Leon, and Alhambra models; with a brand new Ibiza Ecomotive released in early 2009.
