Preview: Mid-engined Seat roadster

In 2001 Seat surprised the motoring world when it unveiled the sporty Tango roadster concept at the Frankfurt Motor Show. Up until then the brand was largely known for its lacklustre range of economical hatchbacks, not for sporty, upmarket two-doors. Nothing much was heard about the Tango for some time but then in 2006 reports started to emerge claiming the roadster concept could be given the production green light.

The once cash-strapped Seat brand is on the verge of developing a range of new models, with cars like the Ibiza, Exeo and upcoming Tribu all showing what is capable with a little component sharing with the rest of the Volkswagen Group.

The unveiling of the new Bluesport concept at last month’s Detroit Auto Show has once again ignited rumors that Seat could be planning a roadster once more. This computer generated rendering gives us a preview of what a new Seat roadster could look like, revealing styling cues borrowed from recent concepts such as the aggressive Bocanegra.

Trademark Seat features include the descending character line on its flanks, sweeping headlights, and the mesh grille and S badge. Some of the names suggested for the car include Tango and Salsa, both names used in past for previous Seat concepts.

If given the green light, the car likely wouldn’t appear until after 2011. To speed up development, powertrain options would likely include current VW Group TSI and TDI four-cylinder engines mated with manual or DSG dual-clutch transmissions.