Seat Ateca SUV to go on sale in UK from September 2016

After being unveiled at the Geneva motor show the car has the Kia Sportage, Mazda CX-5 and Nissan Qashqai in its sights

The Ateca will be front-driven as standard

Seat hasn’t exactly had a lot of success in the SUV market. That’s because you’ve got to be in it to win it, obviously – and aside from the short-lived Altea Freetrack 4, which you probably don’t remember ever even existed, it hasn’t been.

That’s about to change, though. Because the Leon-based Ateca made its debut at the recent Geneva show – and it’ll go on sale later this year with the new Kia Sportage, Mazda CX-5 and all-conquering Nissan Qashqai in its sights.

The Ateca will be front-driven as standard, with all-wheel drive available as an option on diesel models only. The other drivetrain option is a seven-speed DSG gearbox, in lieu of the standard-fit six-speed manual.

Seat has revealed the car will start at £17,990

The aforementioned diesel engines are a 1.6 TDI and a pair of 2.0 TDIs, between which you have the choice of 113, 148 or 187bhp. In basic form, with neither all-wheel drive nor an auto box to complicate matters, the 1.6 TDI returns 65.7mpg and 112g/km, making it the pick of the bunch for running costs.

Should you prefer petrol, there’ll be two choices at launch. These are the 1.0 and 1.4 TSI, which achieve 113 and 148bhp respectively. The latter has a cylinder shut-off feature to boost efficiency when running under low loads: the former doesn’t, because it only has three cylinders in the first place.

High-tech features include the latest in connectivity and inductive charging

Other high-tech features include the latest in connectivity and inductive charging, as well as autonomous driving aids like Traffic Jam Assist, which can basically take over from you when the roads are snarled up. Less space-age but still good are LED headlights, puddle lamps and, to cut right to the chase, a big boot.

The latter will presumably be standard across the range, but Seat is yet to release details of the Ateca’s kit list, specs and so on. There’s no full price list yet, either – but the company has revealed that it’ll start at £17,990 when sales commence in September.

Looking further ahead, the Ateca is the first of three SUVs Seat intends to launch as it seeks to catch up with the rest in this ever-growing marketplace. A look at what’s available from other VW Group companies and you’ll probably be able to take an educated guess at the form these might take.