What's the news?
SEAT will officially introduce its latest in-car technology at the upcoming Frankfurt Motor Show. The Spanish car maker is partnering with online retailing goliath, Amazon, to bring its Alexa digital assistant in-car. According to SEAT, it plans to begin integrating the Alexa voice recognition software into the Leon and Ateca range this year and will expand across to the Arona and Ibiza in 2018. SEAT hopes that the collaboration will result in 'smart solutions' as well as 'optimising the driver's time spent in the car.' So next time you're sitting in morning traffic you'll be able to tell Alexa that you want to order a new alarm clock, we guess.
The Frankfurt Motor Show will also see the new SEAT Arona make its public debut. This compact crossover slots into the range beneath the Ateca and is expected to help grow the company's already increasing market share. Niall Phillips, Brand Director of SEAT Ireland commented: "These are certainly exciting and successful times for the SEAT brand both globally and locally here in Ireland, with the greatest product range we have ever enjoyed, including the Ateca, upgraded Leon, new Ibiza, all new SEAT Arona and our new large SUV arriving next year, giving us a tremendous platform to build on this success."
According to its latest financial results, SEAT's operating profit for the first half of this year rose by 40.9 per cent to €130 million in comparison to the same period in 2016. In the same time, company turnover has increased by 12.7 per cent to €5.05 billion in the first six months of 2017.
Anything else?
The ongoing quest to find a name for SEAT's large SUV continues, and the final longlist of names, as suggested by public vote has been announced. In keeping with SEAT's tradition of naming its cars after places in Spain, the finalists chosen are; Abrera, Alboran, Aran, Aranda, Avila, Donosti, Tarifa, Tarraco, and Teide. During the company's press conference on 12 September, the list will be whittled down to the final choices, which will then be open to a public online vote to choose the winning name via the SEAT Seeking Name website. The winning name will be announced on 15 October.