Say hola to the (very lightly) facelifted Seat Ibiza and Arona

Seat has been conspicuous by its absence of late, seemingly the forgotten brand of the Volkswagen Group. But to remind us it still exists, and it’s very much alive and kicking, it’s treated the Ibiza and Arona to a very minor facelift. ¡Bravo!

Both get new bumpers front and rear, including a revised hexagonal grille design with diamond-shaped mesh, slimmer LED headlights, and a dark aluminium finish to the script on the back end, which still looks like someone’s been practicing their handwriting.

Each also receives four – four! – new alloy wheel designs, and a refreshed colour palette, to keep them down with the youths, or something like that.

Moving inside, there’s a new perforated leather steering wheel, cooled wireless charging, black headlining and a new six-speaker sound system complete with subwoofer. Range-topping FR models also get sportier bucket seats, because racecar.

We can dream, because there are no changes to the powertrains, meaning the Ibiza retains its 1.0-litre 3cyl in three states of tune (79/94/113bhp), with the Arona ditching the base engine in favour of a 148bhp 1.5-litre four cylinder.

But wait, because from 2027, we’re told a mild hybrid setup will be available, as already familiar from elsewhere within the VW Group. But that’s it as far as electrification goes – there’s no plans to introduce a fully electric variant of either, at least for now.

Primarily because it’d be too expensive. And because what was Volkswagen’s sporty brand has now been repositioned as the entry brand to the group, we’re told. And, y’know, that Cupra exists…