All-new SEAT Leon will cater for petrol, diesel, hybrid and electric car buyers

SEAT is looking to build on the sales success of the Leon with a new generation of its popular family hatchback. The 2020 Leon goes on sale in March with prices expected to start in the region of £20,000.

The all-new SEAT Leon goes head to head with rivals like the Ford Focus and Mazda3, and will be available as either a five-door hatch or sports tourer. Power will come from a range of petrol, diesel, mild-hybrid, and plug-in hybrid engines when it goes on sale in the UK in March.

The Leon was the Spanish carmaker’s top-selling model in the UK in 2019, contributing to a global sales total of 574,000 units. And SEAT has bet the farm on the new Leon being a winner, investing €1.1bn in the project and upgrading the factory. Like the new Golf, the latest Leon is based on the Volkswagen Group’s MQB Evo platform.

This is essentially an all-singing, all-dancing platform that caters for petrol, diesel, hybrid and electric power – all of which will be on offer in the new Leon. We’ve already seen that platform in action with the latest Volkswagen Golf and Skoda Octavia, where it has proved itself extremely competent – but we’ll have to wait a few months to see how it performs here.

The Leon will also have a similar in-car tech offering. Buyers can expect seamless Android Auto and CarPlay connectivity, greater user control via a smartphone app, and real-time wireless software updates. Leon also gets a smartphone-esque touchscreen that allows you to simply slide your finger across the screen if you want to turn up the heating.

From the outside, it looks as if SEAT has returned to its days of being a Spanish Alfa Romeo. While the new car may share very little in terms of panels with the outgoing model, the looks are clearly an evolution of the Mk3.

The final production model has shied away from the steeply raked grille in favour of a traditional flat front, while the updated model gets the new family face, debuted on the Tarraco. At the rear, it’s the ‘coast-to-coast’ full-width LED taillight that does the heavy lifting and gives the car its identity.

Eagle-eyed readers will notice that the bonnet is a touch longer on the new model, but the bulk of the design work has been done to make the car’s lines less fussy. Gone are the ‘lightning strike’ front light clusters, swapped in favour of a much more rounded design.

Buyers will be able to choose from a range of trims: SE, SE Dynamic, FR, FR Sport, Xcellence, and Xcellence Lux. Seven colours are available: candy white, pure red, Nevada white, midnight black, desire red, mystery blue, and magnetic grey.

All Leons get keyless start, two USB points in the front, LED auto-dip headlights, electric heated side mirrors, electric parking brake, leather steering wheel and gear stick. SE Dynamic upgrades the infotainment system to the digital cockpit, while FR trim adds sportier front and rear bumpers as well as 17in wheels and a lowered ride height.

Under the bonnet, the engines can be mated to a six-speed manual or seven-speed DSG gearbox. Petrol engines start with a 110PS three-cylinder 1.0-litre while the 1.5-litre four-cylinder is available in 130PS and 150PS. The most powerful petrol will be a 190PS 2.0-litre.

All diesels are 2.0-litre with either 115PS or 150PS. While mild-hybrids are available with the 1.0-litre 110PS and 1.5-litre 150PS petrols. There will also be a plug-in hybrid electric version of the Leon using a 1.4-litre TSI petrol engine electric motor mated to a six-speed DSG transmission. It will be good for 204PS and can be fully charged in under three-and-a-half hours.