New-look Exeo saloon and Exeo ST estate in showrooms

IF you’re looking for a touch of cut-price business car motoring, then SEAT’s updated Exeo range is not a bad place to start.

The SEAT Exeo, both saloon and ST estate, are based on the previous generation Audi A4, but given the SEAT sporting treatment – and improved ride and handling.

And now SEAT has updated the car further with new looks – check out bi-xenon headlights, LED daytime running lights and updated alloy wheels – and improved economy and lower CO2 emissions.

If you want to run the updated SEAT Exeo as a company car, then there’s also good news on the benefit in kind front: CO2 emissions have been reduced to as low as 129g/km thanks to improvements to the 2.0 TDI common rail diesel.

The SEAT Exeo Saloon 120PS SE, for example, has a company car tax band of 19% in 2012/13 tax year. Meanwhile, fuel economy has been improved to 58.9mpg. So you’ll go far in some style.

Prices start from £19,480 for the Exeo Saloon diesel, whereas Audi’s A4 diesel range commences at £26,555 and BMW’s new 3 Series from £26,545 for a similar 2.0 litre diesel.

But there’s more for business car drivers in the pipeline from SEAT.

Later this year, an Ecomotive version of the SEAT Exeo will be launched. Ecomotive is SEAT’s term for its lower emission cars which feature fuel-saving technology such as stop/start.

SEAT says it is targeting a CO2 emissions figure below 120g/km, which would put the SEAT Exeo saloon and ST in the 18% benefit in kind company car tax bracket.

“The showroom arrival of the freshly upgraded Exeo range comes at a great time for SEAT. With another record year under our belt in 2011, and sales continuing their upward trend so far this year, our dealers are already busy,” commented SEAT managing director Peter Wyhinny.

“2012 is set to be the most exciting year in SEAT’s history, and the Exeo gets things off to the perfect start.”