IBX concept: another look at Seat’s new design DNA

After last year’s presentation of the IBE electric sports coupe, at this year’s Geneva Motor Show Seat is presenting a new interpretation of its new design DNA with an urban sports utility vehicle, the new SEAT IBX. The concept vehicle combines the sporty design language of the Spanish brand with distinctive proportions.

The Seat IBX is powered by a hybrid powertrain, which combines electromobility suited for city travel with an internal combustion engine for an extended range for cross-country usage.

Driving solely on electric energy the IBX is able to run up to 45 kilometres, sufficient to cover many everyday journeys, with the advantage of zero local emissions.

Still the range can be unlimited thanks to the use of the internal combustion engine. Although Seat hasn’t referred a specific engine to which the IBX concept has been combined, but alternatives include the state-of-the-art direct injection TDI and TSI engines. The IBX features all the efficiency technologies from the ECOMOTIVE program.

With the IBX Seat takes the design of the IBE concept and adapts it to a completely different vehicle architecture, a crossover between SUV and sports coupé. The hybrid concept measures 4.26 metres and comes to expand an already extremely successful SUV segment in Europe. Combining compact dimensions and wide-ranging versatility, Seat thinks that it may suit customers with an active lifestyle in the world’s urban areas.

“With the IBX, we are once again demonstrating just how intensively we are working on the renewal of the SEAT brand, and how determined we are to develop for the future,” says James Muir, President of SEAT, S.A. “The IBX represents the values of the SEAT brand perfectly – with its unique design, its youthful energy and its outstanding sustainability as a result of its hybrid drive concept. Even though a decision has yet to be taken, we could certainly envisage the IBX as a future expansion of our product portfolio.”

At the front the IBX concept is dominated by the headlamps in full-LED technology. They feature a characteristic V that is a hallmark of the SEAT arrow design, as does the whole front end, including the radiator grille and bonnet. Another distinctive feature of the IBX are the air intakes low down on the front end and featuring integrated fog lamps, with their position reinforcing the car’s width and stance.

The back is a reinterpretation of the form found at the front of the IBX. The rear lights in LED light-guide technology and the rear windscreen with its additional angle in the centre also bear the arrow motif.

One of the requirements for cars nowadays is versatility. For that Seat offers in the IBX concept a good interior space that can be adapted for different circumstances. Still it is compact and agile, suiting it for urban driving.