Seat takes Ibiza back to its roots with a distinctive restyling

With small hatchback sales across Europe dwindling in the face of competition from compact crossovers, many car makers are reducing their investments in such models, especially in a market where margins are so tight. Skoda, for example, has decided to create a new Fabia from the heavily revised bones of the current one.

Seat, then, is somewhat bucking the trend by announcing that its all-new Ibiza really will be just that – all new. The 2016 Ibiza, which Seat has leaked this early outline drawing of, will be based on the same shrunken MQB platform as the new Audi A1 and the next-generation VW Polo.

While Seat hasn’t given any official notice of the car’s technical details beyond its MQB basis, it seems safe to assume that it will share the Polo’s new 1.0-litre three-cylinder petrol engine range, in both naturally aspirated and turbocharged forms.

The outline seen in the picture would also suggest that the Ibiza is returning to its chunkily-styled eighties roots. Seat chief designer Alejandro Mesonero told Auto Express magazine that "even without badges it will clearly be an Ibiza, we are working really hard on the proportions so this new car still looks good when we celebrate the Ibiza's 50th anniversary."

Seat’s front-end investment in this new Ibiza (the current version of which is still in the top-ten compact sales charts in Europe) could be seen as especially canny if the industry analysts are right. IHS Automotive is predicting that the current supermini sales slowdown is a cyclical one, led by the fact that many of the traditional big-selling models are on a wind-down prior to replacement. If predictions that the market will gain as much as 1-million sales, expanding to 3.5-million sales by 2020, then Seat’s spending could put it in the pound seats.