(Thu 02 Oct 08)

The current Ecomotive is one of several SEAT Ibizas you can buy in the old and officially discontinued shape, but it only has a few months to go before it's replaced by the new Ecomotive in the first half of next year.

The new version has gone on display at the Paris Show, and the big news is that it has combined fuel economy of 76.3mpg and a CO2 rating of 98g/km, the latter figure meaning that it's exempt from UK car tax.

This has been achieved by the usual means of using a small diesel engine (in this case the 79bhp 1.4-litre three-cylinder unit), remapping the ECU, improving the fuel economy, removing as much weight as possible, fitting low-resistance tyres on steel wheels with aerodynamically-tuned covers and raising the gearing, particularly in third, fourth and fifth.

Prices will be announced in the next few months, and we should also add that the economy and emissions figures mentioned above have still to be formally confirmed. But we imagine they probably will be.

More Paris 2008 Stories

SEAT Gallery
SEAT Road Tests

Previous: Cadillac CTS For Less                                  Next: Cadillac CTS Sport Wagon