Now joining in on the race is the Spanish automakers Seat. The team has developed their own five door hatchback to counter the growing sales of the Volkswagen Up and the Skoda Citigo. Both the hatchbacks have received rave reviews and are booming in the international market. But the Seat seems optimistic to steal the show and perhaps also the sales by driving in a good bargain and matched performance as compared to the German auto making giants. The Seat has named its hatchback as the Seat Mii which would make its introduction in the Spanish car markets before hitting off on an international platform. The car makers just like the ploy employed by the Skoda, are pricing their car at a price just below the Volkswagen Up. Though nothing has been confirmed as of yet, but in the prediction is a logical conclusion.
The Seat Mii will share a number of components with that of the Volkswagen Up, mainly the engines and the platform. But the Seat Mii has rendered their car quite different from the Up by giving it quite a high style quotient that the competitors might have a tough time to live up to. The car has also introduced a number of other features that distinguishes it from the Volkswagen of the Skoda Citigo.
The front end of the Mii is significantly different from the likes of others, sporting an edgy front end with stylized headlights and robust bumpers, and also with a much improved grille. The changes at the rear end are also living up to the standards the car sets at the front end. The tail lamps and the hatch lid just ‘works’! Overall the car rates pretty high on the glam factor.
Now getting to the ergonomics and the functioning, the car does have some impressive engineering. The three cylinder one liter petrol engines work well in the new Seat Mii to provide for better fuel economy while cutting down emissions to negligible levels. Since it keeps the fuel consumption at a bare minimum, and given the hike in petrol prices, the car has sure got its designing right. The car intelligently integrates two separate engine tunes to provide the necessary thrust. Both the engines work in tandem generating 59 and 75 BHP. The engines are engineered perfectly to respond and coordinate control signals generated by the five speed manual or the automatic gearbox.
The car makers are however not considering the need for an electrical variant, which their competitors are already looking into and have plans to launch the variants in the latter half of this year. The car makers are in for a stiff competition, and hence an electric driven motor may come as the determining factor. But, the car makers have another throw of the dice, which is their launch in India. The company hasn’t yet made any official statement on the product launch in India, but given the country’s booming auto markets, and every other car company vying to get their hands on the fortune, it shouldn’t be long before the Seat Mii figures this out!
