The all-new SEAT Ibiza has opened its New Year honours account in style, adding the title of Best Supermini in the UK Car of the Year Awards to its burgeoning haul of accolades.
By claiming this category win, the fifth-generation of the Spanish brand’s iconic model has also claimed the right to be considered for the overall Car of the Year title, which will be announced in the coming weeks.
Certainly, SEAT’s finest made a big impression on the awards judges, who number some of the country’s top motoring journalists. After putting the Ibiza through a rigorous road-testing programme, they expressed admiration for the advances the new car had made, commenting that “one of the best superminis just got even better”.
The new MQB A0 platform that underpins the new Ibiza played a significant role in its success, earning praise for delivering an “engaging chassis that really delights”. As another judge put it: “In a year where the supermini class upped its game, the Ibiza feels a cut above.”
Richard Harrison, SEAT UK Director, said: “The new generation Ibiza marks a watershed in the car’s history of achievement as our most successful model. With the benefit of our new modular platform and further advances in technology and driving character that define all of today’s SEAT models, we are proud to have produced a car that can take on the best in its class and win, all at a genuine great value package for the customer. We’re hugely grateful to the UK Car of the Year judges for this initial title and hope that the Ibiza’s qualities can take it through to the ultimate award.”
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SEAT is the only company that designs, develops, manufactures and markets cars in Spain. A member of the Volkswagen Group, the multinational has its headquarters in Martorell (Barcelona), exporting 80% of its vehicles, and is present in over 80 countries through a network of 1,700 dealerships. In 2017, SEAT achieved worldwide sales of nearly 470,000 vehicles.
The SEAT Group employs close to 14,700 professionals at its three production centres – Barcelona, El Prat de Llobregat and Martorell, where it manufactures the highly successful Ibiza, Leon and Arona. Additionally, the company produces the Ateca and the Toledo in the Czech Republic, the Alhambra in Portugal and the Mii in Slovakia.
The multinational has a Technical Centre, which operates as a knowledge hub that brings together 1,000 engineers who are focussed on developing innovation for Spain’s largest industrial investor in R&D. SEAT already features the latest connectivity technology in its vehicle range and is currently engaged in the company’s global digitalisation process to promote the mobility of the future.
