Seat has axed the Toledo from its UK line-up, attributing the move to declining sales of the model in a “shrinking segment” of the market.
Orders for the outgoing mid-size hatchback are no longer being taken, although stock is still available at some Seat dealerships.
The Toledo, which is based on an extended version of the previous Volkswagen Polo’s platform, sat between the Seat Ibiza and Seat Leon hatchbacks in the Seat range.
The model, which had remarkable boot space in line with large saloons such as the Audi A6 and BMW 5 Series, received a facelift in 2016 that included a consolidation of the engine line-up. Diesel versions were also dropped this August.
No direct replacement is expected for the Toledo, but customers are likely to be steered towards the larger Seat Leon, which has been a huge success for Seat since the launch of the current iteration in 2012.
Last year, Seat sold 6726 Toledos in Europe, compared with 144,951 Leons and 74,962 Seat Ateca SUVs.
Next year, Seat will launch its fourth-generation Leon and new Tarraco seven-seat SUV, while its newly hived-off performance brand, Cupra, launched earlier this year.
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In-house budget rivals rarely work in the UK
One thing the Toledo has shown is that UK buyers are prepared to pay more money for a better and more complete car with a better image (and better looks) compared to the cheaper, equivalent in that car company's line-up. The Leon outsells the Toledo massively in the UK, as does the Octavia compared to the Rapid and the Fiesta compared to the Ka+. And it's a similar story when a new car is is launched but the previous, older but now cheaper model is still on sale.
Lanehogger wrote:
Is there maybe also a depreciation factor? The Toledo and Rapid depreciate like a stone, making them great used buys. However this means that PCP is more reasonable for a Leon/Octavia with their lesser depreciation. (The same as a 3 series being cheaper to PCP than a Mondeo).
Could also be canny dealers upselling, as per Dacia and Renault. Certainly when I visited a dealer and was sniffing around a Toledo with a DSG box (which seem to be rare) they were trying to 'upsell' me to a Leon estate. A nice enough car but not what I was after at the time.
As a car it made no sense in
As a car it made no sense in the UK Seat lineup, as it was too similar in size to the Leon (unlike with Skoda where the Octavia is a lot larger than the Rapid)
Ok for poorer markets though, akin to the Peugeot 301 etc
It’s interesting there aren’t
It’s interesting there aren’t many cars that make money in this sector now. Only a few German ones. When you get this in perspective I can’t help but think that Alfa, Volvo and Jaguar though struggling in this size category are doing about as well as they can.
Pretty soon I wonder if only the Germans will bother to sell cars of this size?
TStag wrote:
It was a strange car in that it was somewhere in between Ibiza/Polo sized and Leon/Golf sized. Though it was actually a bit longer than a Leon and had huge interior room.
The closest thing now would probably be something like a Hyundai i30 fastback, or moving up a size (from the related Rapid) the Skoda Octavia. Not a huge sector for smallish fastbacks.