I LIKE relaxed – especially when it means meeting SEAT’s Peter McDonald over lunch in a pub.

There’s plenty going on at SEAT: a new SUV is on the cards (see our story), Leon continues to be hugely popular while the new XPERIENCE adds to the breadth of the range and there’s refreshed Ibiza too.

“I think the news of our new SEAT SUV will makes us more popular with small fleets, because we’ll have a more representative range across all bodystyles,” says Peter.

“We’ll have a credible estate car; a credible MPV; and soon a credible SUV. These can only add to the appeal of the Leon hatch and Ibiza supermini.”

Increasing small business support

In the SME small fleet sector, Peter says SEAT continues to work with its dealers to provide a full service offering.

“Most small businesses want a partner in their area they can work with,” says Peter. “Currently we have 15 specialist SME dealers in the major conurbations who have a dedicated local business development manager. But we plan to increase this in 2015 so we can have a larger geographical spread providing a better level of small business support.”

Peter says that SEAT Contract Hire continues to play a major part in funding new company cars for small businesses. “The strength of the VW bank  which supplies the finance means we can support our cars with a lower cost of finance,” says Peter.

Currently SEAT Contract Hire is offering the SEAT Leon SE 1.6 TDI 105PS 5dr with free technology pack for £189 a month (based on a 6+35 payment profile/10,000 miles per annum).

Elsewhere Peter says that larger fleets that he sees continue to be under pressure from purchasing departments with CO2 emissions and whole life costs a major talking point.

“Residual values are essential in making our brand more attractive on costs – and with the Leon just 1% behind the Golf I think we can demonstrate we are really getting there.”

For more on SEAT read

The latest report on out long-term Leon ST Ecomotive

Read our review of the Leon