SEAT Bocanegra breaks cover

SEAT unveiled the brand new Bocanegra on its home turf today (7th May 2009). Don't be fooled by the name though, because the newcomer is really just a masked Ibiza Cupra - although the visual overhaul is such that this Ibiza merits a name all to itself.

A cynic would suggest the Bocanegra is simply an Ibiza with a fancy facemask, and in fact the cynic would be right. However, according to SEAT, the Bocanegra will make production as the direct result of good old popular demand; back at last year's Geneva Show, the Bocanegra concept stole the limelight on SEAT's stand and prompted so many calls to put it on the road that SEAT execs said "ok then."

But as well as the black mask ('Bocanegra' means 'black face'), the newcomer gets a sporty body kit (including 17-inch wheels, black wing mirrors, a rear splitter and a spoiler) as well as interior revisions including a flat-bottomed steering wheel, bespoke sports seats accented with red stitching, black gloss trim, aluminium pedals and 'B' badges for the seats and dials.

Underneath the bonnet it's unchanged from its Ibiza Cupra donor car, which means it's powered by a 1.4-litre turbo- and supercharged TSI engine generating a heady 178bhp and linked to a seven-speed dual-clutch DSG automatic 'box. SEAT's XDS electronic limited slip differential is standard too. There's no official 0-62mph time yet, however.

The Ibiza Cupra goes on sale in the UK this summer, with the Bocanegra to follow 'shortly afterwards,' according to SEAT, and priced somewhere in the region of £17,000 - a £1,500-odd premium over the Cupra. You can have one in either the red of the show car you see here or, of course, in-fashion white.

Mark Nichol