SEAT Altea Prototipo

The SEAT Altea Prototipo is a 2+2 seater concept car that SEAT first showed at the 2003 Frankfurt Motor Show. It was the first SEAT model produced inside the Audi brand group and gave a preview of the production SEAT Altea, due a year later in 2004. Designed by Walter de Silva, it belongs to what the Spanish maker calls a Multi Sport Vehicle, a sporty single volume people carrier, and it is named after the city of Altea in the province of Alicante. It carried the new SEAT design direction, with curved descending side lines and a new radiator grille, plus wipers that rest upright and hidden rear door handles. Under the bonnet was the first direct injection petrol engine fitted to a SEAT, a 2.0 litre FSI four cylinder rated at 150 hp, driving the front wheels through a six speed Tiptronic gearbox on a platform shared with the Audi A3. The Designers (Europe) organisation named it Best Concept Car of 2003.