New 2013 Seat Toledo Compact Sedan Officially Comes Out Into the Light

After showing a thinly disguised concept version at the Geneva Salon in March and following a leaked set of pictures earlier this month, Seat has pulled the wraps of the production version of the new generation Toledo.

Seat's new compact sedan is more of a successor to the first (1991-1998) and second generation (1998-2004) Toledo sedans than to the ill-fated, third generation model of the same name produced from 2004 to 2009, which was essentially an Altea minivan with a prosthetic boot.

However, it is also a sister model to the new Skoda Rapid and even though each brand makes word of a bespoke design language, the fact remains that the styling differences between the two are concentrated in details such as the front end, the tail lights, rear license plate fitment, wheel designs and interior trim.

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First Official Photos of 2012 Seat Toledo Compact Sedan Leaked?

We knew that it was only a matter of time before the Spanish-flavored twin of the Czech Skoda Rapid sedan would make its debut in production trim, but the crew over at the Seat Fans Club speeded the process by dropping what we believe to be the first official photos of the new Toledo.

Not much has changed from the near-production Seat Toledo Concept displayed at the Geneva Salon this past March, with the Spanish brand simply replacing the upscale trim pieces from the study's exterior and interior like the grille surround, large alloy wheels and flat bottom steering wheel with more conventional pieces.

The website that posted the photos says that the production car will launch in Europe with a choice of four petrol engines, including a gutless 1.2-liter three-cylinder unit with 74hp (75PS) and 84hp (85PS), a more peppy 1.2-liter TSI turbo with 104hp (105PS) and a 1.4-liter TSI turbo with 120hp (122PS).

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Geneva 2012: Seat Toledo Prototype is One Step Away from Production

At this year's edition of the Geneva Motor Show, Seat is exhibiting it’s vision of what the…Skoda Mission L study should look like with the Toledo prototype.

As it seems, the Volkswagen Group has more or less given up on its dream of creating an Alfa Romeo brand out of Seat so the Spaniards are once again targeting economy-minded customers.

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New Seat Toledo Concept is the Real Production Deal, Goes on Sale this Year

Seat has officially presented the Toledo Concept car only a few days before the grand opening of the 82nd Geneva International Auto Salon.

As you can see for yourself, sans the large alloy wheels and the premium interior trim that includes two-tone leather surfaces with red accent stitching, the Toledo is ready to enter production, which it will, as Seat itself admitted that sales will start "later in 2012".

The new Toledo takes the series from one extreme, which was the previous generation's extremely odd-looking MPV shape with a hastily crafted boot, to another, by which we mean "concept's" ultra-conservative three-box design.

The Spanish automaker may claim that the new Toledo "combines the proportions of a classic saloon car with a sporty, almost coupé-like design", but what we see here is a car that closely resembles the VW Jetta sedan both on the exterior and even more so, in the interior. It also looks a lot like the Skoda Mission L study.

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Early Reveal for New Seat Toledo Concept Sedan Prior to its Geneva Motor Show Debut

This past Tuesday, we told you that Seat is planning to whisk the covers off a new concept model for the next generation Toledo at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show.

However, we won't have to wait until next week for our first view at the Toledo as Carscoop reader Bruno tipped us off about these shots taken from an Autobild video which has since been removed.

Despite its moniker, the Toledo Concept doesn’t look at all like a concept but a production ready model, which makes sense since our sources said it will go on sale in Europe before the end of the year.

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IAA 2011: Seat IBL Sedan Concept Leaks Online

Seat had told us that it would be unveiling a "new and exciting" concept car at the upcoming 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show, but a Spanish fan club beat them to it by publishing the first official photograph of the study, which it claims found on the pages of Spanish newspaper ABC. We asked around and can confirm that the scanned image is indeed is official.

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UK Insurer Parts the Most Unreliable and Costly Car to Fix

In an article on a BMW-faced Honda Accord we found for sale on Craigslist back in 2008, we wrote that in a perfect world, our ultimate car would be “designed by Italians, engineered by Germans, built by Japanese and marketed by Americans”.

So, what’s the worst car one could imagine? Well, if we played around with the above statements, we’d say one designed by Japanese, engineered by Americans, built by Italians and marketed by Germans.

But UK insurance firm Warranty Direct had something a little bit different in mind. Instead of playing the origin card, the company decided to check out its database of 50,000 live policies on cars aged five years on average to part the UK’s most unreliable vehicle that would break down every other month and cost an average of £2,050 (equal to US$3,270 - €2,330) to fix each year.

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Report: Seat to Launch Four New Models in 2012 including a Four-Door Sedan

VW's Spanish subsidiary is expecting a 10 percent rise in sales this year and aims further growth in 2012, when it will launch four new models. According to CEO James Muir, new products such as the Ibiza ST and the Alhambra will boost Seat sales in 2011.

"We want to increase our 340,000 unit sales from last year – by 8 to 10 percent – thanks to existing models. We aim to sell 45,000 units of the Ibiza ST (station wagon) this year. And the Alhambra already is well above plan so we expect a full-year volume of 20,000 units. This proves that our brand is gaining strength," Muir was quoted as saying by Autonews Europe.

For 2012, the company has even bigger plans, fueled by the launch of four new models. "We will launch four new cars: the new Leon, a totally new entry-level model, a four-door sedan and a major Ibiza facelift," said Muir, who was appointed head of Seat in 2009.

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