2009 Seat Ibiza

In Europe, the Volkswagen Group behaves like General Motors of old. Apart from the fancy stuff -- Lamborghini, Bentley, Bugatti -- it has no fewer than four main brands. Not just the VW and Audi familiar to Americans, but Skoda and Seat, too. Skoda is a historic Czech manufacturer, subsumed into the Volkswagen group and now offering its value entry cars. Seat (pronounced Say-at) is Spanish. Its mission, with which it's had only faltering success so far, is to be a kind of junior Audi. It's supposed to make sporty cars but at more affordable prices.

All four brands share platforms, engines, and major components, and their different cars sometimes come down the same production lines. Design and engineering staff move assignments between the brands, too. The head of design at Seat is Luc Donckerwolke. A true gearhead, he used to be design chief at Lamborghini. He designed the Gallardo. There, that made you pay more attention to the shape of this new Seat Ibiza.

This year's Ibiza is the first car in the group to get the new PQ25 platform. This FWD architecture will underpin the next-gen Volkswagen small car, the Polo, and then the Audi A1 in 2009, the car that was shown as Metroquattro concept at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show.

In design terms, the Audi and Seat share proportions -- including a rather high nose when viewed in dead profile -- but their surfacing is dramatically different. Donckerwolke likens the new Ibiza to a cut diamond, with angled lines intersecting to emphasize the facets. It makes the light play over the surfaces with some drama.

First production variant is a four-door, but in July Seat will show the two-door. This is substantially different and more coupelike. Its roof slopes more than the four-door's, its rear side windows are smaller, its hatch opening is reduced, and there are stronger shoulder lines over the rear tires.

We know this because Seat showed a concept at Geneva called Bocanegra. Apart from its black-painted mouth section and pimped-up wheels, headlamps, and tailpipe, the Bocanegra is the two-door Ibiza. It's a good-looking car.