The Volkswagen Group wants to further enlarge its already huge footprint in China, and will call on Spanish brand Seat to provide the extra ammunition. VW has decided to introduce the Seat brand in the world’s largest auto market, and will set up a stand for Seat at next month’s Shanghai auto show.

According to IHS Global Insight, the first Seat models will be imported from Europe, before production starts at VW’s Foshan assembly plant, which will be completed in 2013. VW Group brands already present in China include Audi, Lamborghini, Skoda and of course, Volkswagen.

Spain based Seat doesn’t have much of a presence outside Europe. It makes lower priced alternatives to mainstream VW brand cars with an accent on sport. This ingredient will be its unique selling point in China.

Seat sold 340,000 vehicles last year and lost 311 million euros. Some reports say that VW will give up on the brand by 2015 if it fails to make money. Last roll of the dice perhaps?

Volkswagen’s Spanish marque SEAT have added an “R” to the Leon range. The new Leon Cupra R adds 25 PS and 50Nm to the “normal” Leon Cupra’s power count, resulting in a new total of 265 PS and 350Nm of torque. This is thanks to an increased boost pressure of a maximum 1.9 bar at peak output and 2.2 bar at peak torque, compared to 1.8 bar for the regular 240 PS Leon Cupra.

Other than the increased boost pressure, the engine also has a new high-pressure fuel pump injector to satisfy the greater performance demands and allow it to meet strict EU5 emissions standards. The manual gearbox has also been revised to have a shorter throw. To put all of this power down to the ground properly, the car gets XDS which is an electronically simulated differential lock.

The new Leon Cupra R is limited to around 500 units a year and goes for £25,205 in the UK. No SEAT here in Malaysia, and Volkswagen’s other stablemate that can be found in Malaysia doesn’t have particularly exciting cars – no “RS” or “VRS” models from Skoda here. Look after the jump for a full gallery of the Leon Cupra R.
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Not all Volkswagen Group marques are doing as well – SEAT operating losses hit almost 340 million Euros last year. Volkswagen only has three unprofitable units – SEAT, Bentley, and Volkswagen commercial vehicles. SEAT’s 1Q loss this year of 110 million Euros is more than double the losses of the other two units.

Volkswagen bosses has given SEAT a deadline of sorts – it has 5 years to cut losses by expanding its model range and growing its market share outside of its ‘home market’ of Spain, where car sales have dropped by 21% last year, which is no wonder considering Spain current has a high jobless rate of 20.1 percent, the highest in the eurozone.

If the brand cannot turn itself around VW may just let it go, but it seems that things are so bad with the brand’s financials that VW would have to PAY someone to take it off its hands. “This is the last attempt for SEAT as a brand, it would not be sensible to view things differently. If one would want to get rid of SEAT, one would have to give the other party money to take it,” said SEAT CEO James Muir, who used to be ex-Mazda Europe.

Not sure if he was kidding about it or not.

The hottest and probably the best looking production version of the SEAT Ibiza was unveiled in Barcelona at the 2009 Barcelona International Motor Show this week. The new Ibiza Bocanegra (FYI, the word Bocanegra means Black Mouth) is a tribute to the styling of the SEAT 1200 Sport back from the 1970s.

The Ibiza range already has a 150 PS Ibiza FR and a 180 PS Ibiza Cupra, but the new SEAT Ibiza Bocanegra offers both 150 PS and 180 PS tune versions of the 1.4 litre TSI engine, and adds a unique Bocanegra bodykit which looks way more aggressive and fitting of the 180 PS than the sedate-looking-in-comparison Ibiza Cupra.

The engine is mated to a 7-speed twin clutch transmission with paddle shifters, and an XDS electronic LSD. It’s small, light, has 180 PS and most importantly plenty of torque thanks to the twin-turbocharging. A nice alternative to other good-looking hot hatches like the MiTo and the Cooper S.

Look after the jump for more shots!
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SEAT claims that its SEAT Ibiza ECOMOTIVE is the most “ecological” car in its segment. The car driven by Austrian long-haul specialist Gerhard Plattner’s 1.4 litre TDI engine (with a peak output of 80 horses) travelled a distance of 1,562km across Spain, France and Germany on a single tank of fuel.

The exact amount used was 45.53 litres, calculated from topping up the fuel to the same level after the drive and measuring how much fuel went in. The car travelled under the supervision of the International Police Motor Corporation and cruised along at speeds of up to 110km/h along motorways in Spain and France. 1,562km from 45.53 litres is about 34.3km per litre, or about 2.9 litres per 100km. That model Ibiza’s rated fuel consumption was 3.7 litres per 100km, so 2.9 litres is impressive.

Remember the Nissan Lightfoot Quest? In that competition, a 1.6 manual Grand Livina was claimed to have managed just a little over 36km per litre of petrol, which is slightly more than this advanced turbodiesel engine manage. So is the basic 1.6 litre engine without any variable valve timing in the Nissan more fuel efficient than Volkswagen’s 1.4 TDI? It makes the Nissan results a little more than hard to believe.