Spanish car maker SEAT is the latest to be bitten by the electrification bug as it announces plans for a new battery electric car and a plug-in hybrid.
Unveiling a prototype Altea XL Electric Ecomotive, the firm plans to be the first to design, develop and manufacture an electric car in Spain. The new pre-production model is revealed alongside a prototype Leon TwinDrive Ecomotive-a plug-in hybrid model.
Although full production is not yet confirmed, over the next few months, the Spanish car maker will make available units of both models to government institutions in Catalonia and Madrid for use in their vehicle fleets. SEAT will use vital feedback from the trials to assess the models with a view to mass production of electric vehicles in the medium-term.
All that the car maker will say at the moment is that the launch of its first plug-in hybrid car is expected to be in 2015, to be followed a year later by an all-electric vehicle.
The prototype Altea XL Electric Ecomotive features an electric motor capable of producing 115bhp (85 kW) and 270 Nm of torque. This translates into a limited top speed of 84 and range of around 90 miles. The car can also cover a 0-62mph sprint in 12 seconds.
In the Leon plug-in hybrid, an electric motor allows the car to run on solely electric mode for a range of 32 miles and up to a top speed of 75 miles per hour. In combined mode (electrical plus combustion power) the car is expected to achieve 166mpg- the equivalent of a rock-bottom 39 g/km of CO2 with a top speed of 106mph.
SEAT President James Muir said: “Customers demand a more sustainable form of mobility, but their needs are diverse. Therefore, we believe that a parallel strategy of developing two different technologies will put SEAT in the best position to meet their needs.”
The announcement of the launch of the first electric vehicles coincides with the start of the biggest new product offensive SEAT has known. The company will launch four new models over the next 12 months, the first being SEAT’s smart new urban vehicle – the Mii-based on the new Volkswagen Up! city car.
