SEAT IBL plug-in hybrid

Spanish firm's stylish new IBL concept reveals new family face

Auto Express Car Reviews

September 2011

The new face of SEAT is getting in shape, with this stunning Ford Mondeo-sized model the star of the brand’s Frankfurt stand.

The IBL is a plug-in hybrid saloon, and previews a new large family car from SEAT. But it’s expected to provide styling inspiration for the next Leon and a booted Toledo first. Both are due next year, and will use VW Golf platforms, plus engines from within the VW Group.

Video: the making of the SEAT IBL

The design is the work of new styling chief Alejandro Mesonero-Romanos, who takes over from Luc Donkerwolke. It shows off SEAT’s dramatic face, which will grace every new model in the firm’s forthcoming line-up.

There’s a wide, flat grille at the front, in what SEAT refers to as an ‘arrow form’. Full LED headlamps are set alongside large lower air intakes. The overall shape is clean and minimalist, with short overhangs giving a coupé-like stance which is emphasised by the sloping roof and dramatic door creases. Aggressive 20-inch alloys complete the look.

Inside, a driver-oriented dash is covered in high-contrast leather and metallic red trim, with a high central transmission tunnel. The digital main display shows the data and colour choice in three modes: Travel for relaxed driving, Sport for fun, or Efficiency with a focus on fuel economy from the plug-in hybrid.

The IBL gives strong clues to the look of the replacement for the Exeo, due in 2014. It complements SEAT’s other recent concepts – the IBE compact electric sports coupé and the IBX crossover.

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6 Comments

Awww

Seems a long time to wait. Very sexy indeed though :)

By Leonidas on 12 September, 2011, 11:24pm

The Con

Is'nt about time we came to our senses. Hybrids and the stop start systems are only any good if you do a lot of town motoring. It helps artificially give a low fuel consumption figure. I believe a true fuel consumption figure for the Prius is more like 50mph which I admit is quite good for a petrol engine, but not very good against the inequivalent diesel.
There must also be the worry of having to replace the batteries when they fail.

By Dieselman on 13 September, 2011, 2:50pm

bye-bye organ-grinders

most intelligent solution yet for getting away from the horrible current crop of copy-cat double-stacked toothy front grilles filled with reg. plate like a misplaced tongue! Well done indeed!

By georgesab on 14 September, 2011, 6:09am

sijosa

Methinks it's appalling IMHO. Seat should never have dropped their interesting and quite different egg-shaped bodies and rounded nostril look - and for some true inspiration, they need only go back to the brilliant Seat Bolero Concept Car of 1998-1999. Adopting the Bolero might have put Seat on the radar, with the fruit of their efforts back then kicking in about now, if not prior to the GFC. The interior of the IBL Concept Car is certainly well-done, but the exterior - apart from a few minor details - is bland and largely undifferentiated from the current crop of generic, Euro-bland, risk-averse rubbish that may as well have come out of a fish cannery rather than the factory of a proud workforce who have one of the finest construction quality and reliability ratings in the entire VW group (second, I believe, only to Skoda, whose own concepts this car would appear to emulate and better than VW's own over-blown and overrated products - and vastly better than Audi).

By sijosa_sjs on 15 September, 2011, 2:32am