One is a Neesan the other is a SEAT. One is a compact SUV the other is a Neesan. One is a loss making entity for it’s German overlords, the other is a Neesan. One is made and overseen by the Germans the other is a joint alliance sharing development costs and lunch time meetings. One has an established SUV core to its line up the other is Spanish.
In a desperate bid to stay content relevant and feed the news cycle to our three daily readers SEAT have given us the fuel we need to keep those content fires stoked. The SEAT Ateca is a compact SUV which is actually smaller than the Neesan Squashqi-thing.
It’s always remarkable how two different design philosophies tend to merge. Well it isn’t as remarkable as the miracle of life nor is it remarkable enough to explain why strawberries are red.
What we do see in the automotive industry are constant, lets put it this way, constant “reflections” a singularity that manifests its self into an extra terrestrial clone. Or in other words the exterior designs look similar.
We are no design experts and do not have the ability to make sophisticated visual comparisons using the power of words other than saying the Ateca and X-Trail look bloody similar. But we’ll try.
Its the rear C-panel that is the most similar between the Neesan and SEAT. they…errmmm… look similar.
The bonnet (hood) section have obvious differences and overall the Ateca has pin-sharp lines that look as they could cut through the very fabric of space time.
Overall we prefer the Neesan Ateca over the SEAT X-Trail. The X-Trail is more or less a Renault so you can expect to bang your head in frustration on the dashboard at some point.
The Ateca is Spanish design melded with German engineering and that means you can expect to occasionally bang your head on the dashboard. Probably infrequently.
SEAT is a bit of a problem child to their German overlords, the SEAT brand may sell over 400k units per year but fails on the ROI test. It has so done for the last decade.
Will the Neesan Ateca take SEAT back into profit or the will SEAT X-Trail be a spanner in the works. We really don’t have too much more to say about the X-Trail, it’s a Neesan.
