Seat first entered the subcompact segment for crossovers four years ago with the Arona, and now the small crossover model is due for a refresh. The facelifted iteration was spied testing ever since last year, and more recently, it was taken to northern Europe for one of its first encounters with extremely cold temperatures.
The Spanish carmaker decided not to mess
with a winning recipe, so the revisions are very subtle. These include a
slightly bigger grille, a new bumper with repositioned fog lamp housings, and a
slightly smaller lower air intake.
The headlights appear to be identical in
shape to its predecessor, but this should change when the Arona debuts, likely
in the second half of the year. The back end does seem to feature a new
diffuser, with the incorporated exhaust pipes moved a bit to the sides. As for
the taillights, these appear to feature a new, more modern lighting signature,
bringing the facelifted Arona in line with models like the latest Leon and of
course the bigger Ateca.
A number of revisions are expected to take
place inside as well, with the 2022 Arona probably receiving an updated
infotainment system, along with new trim colors. A digital instrument cluster
has been available for it ever since 2018, but the software might be revised
with the facelift.
In terms of power, we’d expect it to
launch with several small petrol engines, with some of them featuring a 48-volt
mild-hybrid system, as well as one or two diesel units in continental Europe.
However, nothing is official on the latter, and let’s not forget that Seat
decided to drop the oil-burning versions of the Arona and Ibiza from the UK
last fall.