The fourth-generation Seat Leon is getting first dibs on a state-of-the-art infotainment system that’s being developed by the Volkswagen Group. The new infotainment system is reportedly being developed with an eye towards improving its functionality to include certain abilities like updating maps, apps, and other features over-the-air. Once the system is used on the new Leon, it’s expected to filter down across the entire Volkswagen Group range.

A new infotainment system may not be as important as a car’s wheels and engines, but in today’s world of increased connectivity, it might as well be. It says a lot about the importance of this new system when Seat CEO Luca De Meo admits to Autocar that the company has spent the last two years developing it. In addition to its ability to do over-the-air updates, the new infotainment system will be versatile enough to accommodate a variety of car functions, including air-conditioning and heating. “It will have fewer buttons, more voice control and be much more coherent than (the system) today, Matthias Rabe, Seat research and development boss, said.

Once the new infotainment display hits the market with the fourth-generation Leon, it could end up drawing comparisons to the infotainment system Tesla uses with its own lineup of models. The California-based electric car maker has been at the forefront of infotainment technology, having evolved the system to a point that its models, including the upcoming Model 3, depends almost entirely on its touchscreen, turning it into the brains of the operation with frequent over-the-air updates coming from Tesla itself.

A similar system from the Volkswagen Group would be beneficial for all the brands under the German conglomerate. This includes Seat, which has worked hard to reinvent its image to cater to younger markets. It’s no secret that this is one of the reasons why the new technology is going to debut in the fourth-generation Leon.

In addition to the new infotainment system, the fourth-generation Leon will also receive a number of body styles, including a five-door hatchback that Rabe hinted will “not be a typical hatch.” It will use Volkswagen’s MQB platform, the same platform that models like the Audi A3 and current-generation versions of the Volkswagen Golf, Passat, Polo, and Tiguan, among others. The hatchback will eventually be joined by a wagon version and a crossover that will sit between the hatchback and the Ateca SUV, another Seat model that uses the same MQB underpinnings.

References

Seat Leon

Read our full review on the 2017 Seat Leon.

Read more Seat news.