The SEAT Ronda (codenamed ''022A'') was a
small family car
The C-segment is the 3rd category of the European segments for passenger cars and is described as "medium cars". It is equivalent to the Euro NCAP "small family car" size class, and the compact car category in the United States.
In 2011, the C- ...
produced by the Spanish automaker
SEAT
A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but also headquarters in a wider sense.
Types of seat
The following are examples of different kinds of seat:
* Armchair (furniture), ...
from 1982 to 1986, and styled by Rayton Fissore in collaboration with the Technical Centre in Martorell. The Ronda was also briefly sold in the United Kingdom as the SEAT Málaga hatchback. 177,869 Rondas were built in total.
The Ronda was the first SEAT model named
after a Spanish city.
Design
![Seat Ronda Crono with 5 doors](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/Seat_Ronda_Crono_with_5_doors.jpg)
The SEAT Ronda was a restyled
SEAT Ritmo
The Fiat Ritmo is a small, front-engine, front-wheel drive family car manufactured and marketed by Fiat, launched in April 1978 at the Turin Motor show and offered in 3- and 5-door hatchback and cabriolet body styles – from 1978 to 1988 with t ...
which in its turn derived from the
Fiat Ritmo
The Fiat Ritmo is a small, front-engine, front-wheel drive family car manufactured and marketed by Fiat, launched in April 1978 at the Turin Motor show and offered in 3- and 5-door hatchback and cabriolet body styles – from 1978 to 1988 with t ...
. However, in 1983 the Arbitration Chamber of Paris (subsequent to the acrimonious split between FIAT and SEAT) judged that the differences between those cars were important enough so as not to consider the Ronda to be a rebadged Ritmo. The most visible external design differences between a Ritmo and a Ronda are rectangular headlights on the Ronda in place of the round ones featured on the Ritmo, different tail lights and panels, and changed door handles. Mechanically, there were also some minor differences, mostly due to the use of Spanish-built engines and other parts.
The interior was more commodious than that of the original Ritmo, with a different dashboard with a more complete instrumentation. The seats were deeper and more comfortable, while the door panels were improved and the sound dampening was increased.
The Spanish-made transmission was only available in a five-speed manual.
[ Renaux, p. 123]
The Ronda featured a boot capacity of 370 litres which could be increased to 1250 litres by folding rear seats.
[SEAT Ronda 1.2 GL ] It was introduced with locally built engines from the
124 series or a larger twin cam 1.6, as well as a 1.7-litre diesel unit. Later, a version of Fiat's two-litre engine with a Porsche-developed head (''
System Porsche'') was also installed in the rare Ronda Crono 2000 2.0 model. Only 800 of these were built.
[ After an Autumn-1984 facelift, the Ronda received the "System Porsche" petrol engines which were developed for the ]Ibiza
Ibiza (natively and officially in ca, Eivissa, ) is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of the Balearic Islands, in Spain. Its l ...
. The car was now called the Ronda P and carried a stylized "P" on the rear side.
Powertrain
The engines were:
Ronda (Petrol, 1982-1984)
*1.2 1197 cc
*1.4 1438 cc
*1.6 1592 cc
*2.0 1995 cc
Ronda P (Petrol, 1984-1986)
*1.2 1193 cc
*1.5 1461 cc
Diesel (1982-1986)
*1.7 D 1714 cc
The dispute with Fiat
1982 saw the end of almost 30 years of co-operation between SEAT and the automaker Fiat. In order to conform with the end of partnership agreement signed by the two automakers, SEAT had to quickly restyle its entire model range to be able to offer its models on sale, distinguishing its cars from those of the Italian firm. This was marked by a change in SEAT's brand logo and the first car launched without Fiat involvement, the SEAT Ronda, appeared that same year.
The launch of that model though sparked a lawsuit from Fiat against SEAT, as the former claimed the car was still too similar to a car in Fiat's own range, the Fiat Ritmo. In defence of SEAT, the then president of the company, Juan Miguel Antoñanzas, showed a Ronda to the press with all the alterations from the Fiat Ritmo painted bright yellow, to highlight the differences. An El País journalist who covered the trial claimed that the result was spectacular.
The case was eventually taken to the ICC International Court of Arbitration in Paris which in 1983 declared that differences between the cars were sufficiently substantial for the Ronda not to be judged as a rebadged Ritmo, ending the dispute in favour of SEAT. This also meant that SEAT was free to export the Ronda (and soon afterwards also the Fura
Fura may refer to:
* Mount Fura (Mt Darwin) site of capital of Monomotapa kingdom in Zimbabwe
* Fura (food), Nigerian millet dough balls eaten with nono
* Fura (rapper), Indian rapper
* SEAT Fura supermini car produced by Spanish automaker SEAT, ...
), although the car never sold particularly well outside of Spain. Rumour at the time had it that Fiat was angry because the Ronda restyling was in fact too close to their own planned restyling for the Fiat Ritmo, which they had to scrap. Dutch car magazine Autovisie comparison tested the Ronda and the Ritmo in May 1983; the Ritmo was marginally quicker and lighter, and more modern overall, but the Ronda countered with a five to six per cent lower price.[
]
References
{{Modern SEAT vehicles
Ronda
Ronda () is a town in the Spanish province of Málaga. It is located about west of the city of Málaga, within the autonomous community of Andalusia. Its population is about 35,000. Ronda is known for its cliff-side location and a deep chasm ...
Compact cars
Front-wheel-drive vehicles
Cars introduced in 1982