« Reply #115 on: 20 September 2011, 20:39 »
VW Audi dumbed down SEAT after the Spanish brand produced far better cars than the parent companies in the nineties and noughties. Obviously there was pressure from the German financiers and unions to reign in SEAT once they'd built up their brand.
There followed years where VW didn't quite know which direction to point their sporty brand and a whole generation of quite ugly cars with rock hard ride followed. The new Ibiza has pulled them back off their arses a bit but I really fear for SEAT as the parent company and unions won't want them becoming dangerous again. I will guess that as the big Chinese markets open up VW will want to concentrate more on building the VW brand in the East and keep a lid on any competition in Europe which might threaten German coffers.
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‘25 8.5R, ‘23 8R, ‘20 8CS, ‘19 135iX, ‘19 TCR, ‘17 Ed40, ‘17 GTD, ‘15 7R, ‘13 GTI PP, ‘11 GTI, ‘09 GTI, ‘98 Ibiza Cupra, ‘05 GTI, ‘06 Polo GTI, ‘04 GT TDI, ‘05 Fabia vRS, ‘02 GTI T, ‘03 Ibiza TDI 130, ‘01 Leon 180, ‘89 mk2 16v, ‘99 Ibiza TDI, ‘96 VR6, ‘98 Ibiza TDI, ‘92 VR6, ‘88 mk2 8v, ‘92 Polo G40, ‘91 mk2 8v, ‘89 mk2 8v, 205 GTI 1.9, ‘83 mk1 GTI, ‘80 Scirocco GTI, plus some others I’ve forgotten
