New Seat Ibiza Cupra in Beijing Motor Show

The VW Group’s Seat brand will mark its presence at the Auto China 2012 in Beijing with the world premiere of the Ibiza Cupra Concept, the first images of which made their way online over the weekend. The Spaniards may be calling it a concept, but in reality, this is the Ibiza Cupra facelift that will go on sale in Europe later this year. The Cupra model adopts the new face with the wider front grille of the regular Ibiza facelift that we saw at the Geneva Motor Show in March, adding several sporty touches such as the bespoke front bumper with the wider lower grille, LED headlamps and larger alloy wheels. The three-door hatch also gets gloss black mirrors and a rear apron that integrates a diffuser and a central trapezoidal exhaust. Inside, the improvements are similar to the rest of the range and include the use of higher quality materials and a new climate control display, plus a redesigned three-spoke sports steering wheel and instrument panel. We don’t expect any changes to the Ibiza Cupra’s driveline that links a 178hp (180PS) 1.4-liter supercharged and turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine to a seven-speed DSG transmission and XDS electronic differential lock, which drive the front wheels.