The SEAT Ateca is a

compact crossover SUV Compact crossover SUV is an automobile classification used mainly in North America to describe a segment of crossover SUV, a type of sport utility vehicle, between subcompact crossover SUV and mid-size crossover SUV. By late 2010s, the segment h ...

(

C-segment 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- ...

) manufactured by 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), ...

. The brand's first

SUV A sport utility vehicle (SUV) is a car classification that combines elements of road-going passenger cars with features from off-road vehicles, such as raised ground clearance and four-wheel drive. There is no commonly agreed-upon definiti ...

offering, the Ateca is built on the Volkswagen Group MQB A1 platform and sits in the C-SUV segment, between the Arona and

Tarraco Tarraco is the ancient name of the current city of Tarragona (Catalonia, Spain). It was the oldest Roman settlement on the Iberian Peninsula. It became the capital of the Roman province of Hispania Citerior during the period of the Roman Republi ...

within SEAT's crossover SUV lineup. It was unveiled as a production vehicle on 1 March 2016 in Barcelona.

Overview

The Ateca was previewed as a

concept vehicle A concept car (also known as a concept vehicle, show vehicle or prototype) is a car made to showcase new styling and/or new technology. They are often exhibited at motor shows to gauge customer reaction to new and radical designs which may or ...

, the SEAT IBX which was showcased at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show, followed by the SEAT 20V20 Concept at the 2015 Geneva Motor Show. The production version was released in March 2016 and it went on sale from September 2016. In keeping with SEAT's tradition of naming its cars after Spanish places, The Ateca is named after Ateca village to the west of

Zaragoza Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributari ...

, near SEAT headquarters in Barcelona. As part of

Volkswagen Group Volkswagen AG (), known internationally as the Volkswagen Group, is a German multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. The company designs, manufactures and distributes passenger and commercial ...

policy of making similar models with shared platforms in the same factory, the Ateca is not produced in Spain, rather it is produced at

Škoda Škoda means ''pity'' in the Czech and Slovak languages. It may also refer to: Czech brands and enterprises * Škoda Auto, automobile and previously bicycle manufacturer in Mladá Boleslav ** Škoda Motorsport, the division of Škoda Auto respons ...

production facility in

Kvasiny Kvasiny (German: ''Kwasney'') is a municipality and village in Rychnov nad Kněžnou District in the Hradec Králové Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 1,500 inhabitants. Economy Kvasiny is home to the Volkswagen Group-owned Škoda Auto ...

, Czech Republic alongside the

Škoda Karoq The Škoda Karoq is a compact crossover SUV (C-segment) designed and built by the Czech car manufacturer Škoda Auto. Introduced in 2017, the vehicle is based on the Volkswagen Group MQB platform, and replaced the Škoda Yeti. The car slots between ...

to cut costs. The top of the range model is the ''Xcellence''. This model boasts leather seats, an eight inch touchscreen, 18-inch alloy wheels and a drive setting wheel, which lets you choose from sport, normal, eco, individual, off-road and snow. Mid-range is the ''SE'' version, and the bottom of the range is the ''S'' version. File:2017 SEAT Ateca Xcellence 1.4 Rear.jpg, SEAT Ateca XCELLENCE (rear view) File:Paris Motor Show 2018, Paris (1Y7A2062) (cropped).jpg, SEAT Ateca FR File:SLM 60 - Seat Ateca.jpg, Interior

Facelift

The facelifted Ateca was revealed in June 2020. Exterior revisions over the previous Ateca model include a redesigned bumpers, revised radiator grille, new LED headlamps and tail lights and a pair of redesigned fog lamps. The rear lighting units share a similar design to the Tarraco and feature sequential indicators on the FR and Xperience trim-levels. The Ateca’s block-capital badge design has been swapped for the same hand-written script found on the rear of the new Leon. In the interior, the facelifted Ateca gets a new leather steering wheel, updated door cards and a choice of new upholstery designs. There’s also an eight-way electrically adjustable driver’s seat, a pair of new USB-C ports, a multi-colour ambient lighting system and voice recognition. The Ateca received an 8.25-inch infotainment system as standard with a larger 9.2-inch unit as an option. File:SEAT Ateca facelift IMG 4101.jpg, 2021 SEAT Ateca (facelift) File:SEAT Ateca facelift IMG 4102.jpg, 2021 SEAT Ateca (facelift)

Cupra Ateca

The Ateca is also sold under a new performance-oriented brand,

Cupra Cupra Racing, formerly known as SEAT Sport, is the high-performance motorsport subsidiary of the Spanish automobile manufacturer SEAT, founded in 1985, succeeding the "SEAT Special Vehicles department" which had been formed in 1971 with the miss ...

, whose cars are based on existing SEAT models. As the result, the car does not bear the SEAT logo in favour of the copper-tinted badge Cupra logo. It features a redesigned front and rear bumpers, quad exhaust pipes, and gloss-black detailing on several exterior elements, including the wing mirrors, side mouldings, wheels and front grille. The Cupra Ateca gets a 2.0-litre

turbocharged In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (often called a turbo) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to pro ...

petrol engine A petrol engine (gasoline engine in American English) is an internal combustion engine designed to run on petrol (gasoline). Petrol engines can often be adapted to also run on fuels such as liquefied petroleum gas and ethanol blends (such as ''E ...

producing and paired with a 7-speed DSG dual-clutch automatic transmission, ''4Drive'' all-wheel drive and an

adaptive suspension An active suspension is a type of automotive suspension on a vehicle. It uses an onboard system to control the vertical movement of the vehicle's wheels relative to the chassis or vehicle body rather than the passive suspension provided by large s ...

. SEAT claims the combination can take the compact SUV from in 5.4 seconds with a top speed of . The car can operate in a number of modes, including a new 'Cupra' setting that firms up the suspension and allows more engine noise through to the cabin. As standard, every Cupra Ateca model comes equipped with 19-inch alloy wheels, black Alcantara seats, a digital instrument cluster, wireless phone charging, an eight-inch touchscreen, and dynamic chassis control. Optional kit includes a Beats audio sound system, 20-inch wheels, a panoramic roof and tow bar. File:Cupra Ateca at IAA 2019 IMG 0545.jpg, Cupra Ateca Performance File:Cupra Ateca IMG 2791.jpg, Rear view File:Cupra Ateca Facelift IMG 3666.jpg, 2021 Cupra Ateca (facelift) File:Cupra Ateca Facelift IMG 3667.jpg, 2021 Cupra Ateca (facelift)

Powertrain

The entry-level petrol engine is a 1.0-litre three-cylinder turbocharged unit producing . The other petrol engine available 1.5-litre EcoTSI motor with shared with the VW Golf and SEAT Leon, and is able to close down cylinders to save fuel when they’re not required. The

diesel engines The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-calle ...

are 1.6-litre with and CO₂ emissions of 112 g/km, which is front-wheel drive only, and a 2.0 that’s offered in two power output: and . Even the most potent diesel with four-wheel drive emits 131 g/km. Four-wheel drive Ateca models will be named 4Drive, and are limited to the and diesels in top-spec XCELLENCE trim. A 7-speed DSG transmission is available on these diesel engines.

Safety

The Ateca was awarded 5 stars by

Euro NCAP The European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP) is a European voluntary car safety performance assessment programme (i.e. a New Car Assessment Program) based in Leuven (Belgium) formed in 1996, with the first results released in February ...

in 2016. The Czech-made Ateca in its most basic Latin American configuration with 7 airbags received 5 stars for adult occupants, 5 stars for toddlers, and ''Advanced Award'' frrom

Latin NCAP The Latin New Car Assessment Programme (Latin NCAP) is an automobile safety assessment programme for Latin America and the Caribbean. Founded in 2010, it offers independent information to consumers about the safety levels of new cars in the ...

in 2017.

Sales and production figures

References

External links

Official website

Cupra Leasing
(in German)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Seat Ateca Ateca Ateca Crossover sport utility vehicles Front-wheel-drive vehicles All-wheel-drive vehicles Euro NCAP small off-road Latin NCAP small off-road 2010s cars Cars introduced in 2016 Cars of Spain