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Seat is launching the all-new Ibiza supermini in Spain this afternoon, and we’ve got the first pictures of the car.
The Spanish car maker claims this new Ibiza will mark the start of a “major product offensive”, which will include a new saloon, a small 4x4 and even a small sporting coupé.
The latest Ibiza is the first car to use VW’s new small-car platform, which will go on to underpin the Volkswagen Polo. It’s also the first mainstream Seat styled by the company’s new design boss Luc Don...Read the full article

So Seat decided after all not to dispense with the tracing paper used for the Leon, Altea and Toledo forward of the b-pillar. I like the front end though.

Autocar:

The latest Ibiza is the first car to use VW’s new small-car platform, which will go on to underpin the Volkswagen Polo.

Is that so? What about:

"Like the original Fabia, the 2007 edition is first in the VW supermini family to adopt a platform which will go under a yet-to-be launched, new-generation VW Polo." source: http://www.autocar.co.uk/CarReviews/FirstDrives/Skoda-Fabia-1.2-6v-60-1/223912/  Skodia Fabia 1.2 6V 'First Drive' 19/1/2007

Oh dear, Autocar's boobed again.

 

I really like the look of the new Ibiza - especially the front end, like others, and it also looks quite a bit longer than the current model.  I shall reserve full judgement however until it is out.  For me it will have to improve on the dark, drab interior of the current model and quality. 

loather:

Oh dear, Autocar's boobed again.

Loather,

The Skoda Fabia is actually based on a revised version of the older platform with a few new bits. This Ibiza is on a different platform altogether.

It's possible that, almost 1.5 years ago when that Skoda first drive was written, speculation was that the next Polo would share its revised platform. Or we could have just got it wrong.

Either way, I can confirm that the Ibiza is all-new, and is the first VW Group product to sit on the new PQ25 platform, which will definitely underpin the next Polo.

Hope that's not too big a boob for you. Thanks for pointing out the inconsistency.

Will Powell

Sorry to pick you up again Will(representing Autocar as a whole) but 19/1/2007 - Steve Cropley's 'First Drive' Skoda 1.2 report - is less than 15 months ago, not the rather exaggerated '1.5 years'.

And as to your explanation: "It's possible that, almost 1.5 years ago when that Skoda first drive was written, speculation was that the next Polo would share its revised platform. Or we could have just got it wrong. ", I think we can safely say it was the latter(just got it wrong) - there, it wasn't so hard, was it? If it was speculation, then the reporter makes it explicit as such, or simply omits it from a factual report, otherwise the act of 'reporting' ain't worth a fig.

The profile is similar to that of the old Fiesta and now popularly copied by the Yaris and 2. And the shape of side window is almost over-used now that even the i30 has adopted 6 window the "swish-leave" shape. It looks good in picture though.

Another slab sided car that tries to hide it by putting some ill designed swage lines in, to break it up, ala, Chris Bangle style.

A scaled down Leon anyone. How about giving us a corporate look at the front while differentiating between models from the nose back?

If you take the badge away from the grille and then simply divide the grille vertically with a narrow body-coloured piece of plastic/metal, what current generation of cars would you think the new Ibiza belonged to viewing it from the front/front side quarter? No prizes for guessing the obvious answer!

The interior quality is going to have to be much better than before if it is to compete in todays market. I have seen some very high res pics of the new interior and sadly the plastics look as hard, shiny and unappealing as before. It looks like the same rubbish they use in the Altea and Toledo, which creaks and squeaks at the first opportunity.

A very nice design - kudos to Chris Bangle...

Don't like the interior again, what's wrong in that department with Seat??

 Roy.

P.S: Seat hasn't stated that this is a uniqe or brand new platform. It's much more probable, knowing the way the accountants at VW works, that it's just another re-work of the Fabia, being sort of a Version 1.5 of the Polo.

rtwingo:

P.S: Seat hasn't stated that this is a uniqe or brand new platform. It's much more probable, knowing the way the accountants at VW works, that it's just another re-work of the Fabia, being sort of a Version 1.5 of the Polo.

rtwingo

Sorry, but i never mentioned anything about platform sharing, or indeed a new platform for the new Ibiza. I just commented about the styling. But i note your comments about the platform.