Although its overall looks hint at the Ibiza, the Vaillante is completely different from the waist-line down. It has a longer, more radical front end, featuring redesigned headlights and a large grille spanning the length of the revamped bumper. The latticed grille is emblazoned with a huge letter V (for Vaillante) that goes from top to bottom on the right-hand side, clearly identifying it as a comic-book car.
 
The pumped-up muscle-car look of the SEAT Ibiza Vaillante is emphasised by the chunky front and rear wheel arches and the defined shoulders at waist-line height. The front arches feature vertical air slats, and the car's 40 mm lower ground clearance and large wheels are key to its brawny, sporty looks. On each alloy wheel, the five spokes are laced together with triangles, adding to their dramatic style.
 
A side view of the Ibiza Vaillante reveals that its rear-view mirrors emerge directly from the door panels, as on the Leon, instead of from the window frames. The tailgate features the word 'Vaillante' in the centre, as on the Ibiza 2006 and SEAT Ibiza Cupra. The newly designed bumper has a solid black surface at the bottom that hints at an air inlet, and a centrally mounted triangular exhaust pipe also mimics the V for Vaillante.
 
Eye-catching rear light clusters form a semi-wraparound horizontal line that extends inwards towards the centre of the hatch. The tailgate itself has been revamped, and features clean, simple lines on a nearly vertical design.



Multi-purpose Safety Structure
 
In record time, Luc Donckerwolke and his team at the SEAT Design Centre focussed considerable effort on creating an interior to match the philosophy of a comic-book hero's fictional car. Donckerwolke admits that since it is not meant to be a competition car, he did not want to equip it a safety cage. Instead, he designed a highly rigid horizontal structure that takes up the entire rear of the car and extends laterally towards the central console.
 
A visible spare tyre is encased in the centre of this structure, while the transverse bar running behind the original sport seats houses the helmets and anchorage points for the safety harnesses. The two bars that converge at the central console form a platform for the gear lever, which is perched higher, as on a competition car.
 
The interior is packed with touches of blue, principally on all the elements that make up the safety structure, which lends even more of a comic-book atmosphere. The open-face driving helmets, lodged behind the front seats, match the blue of the car and the interior trim. They mimic the one worn by Michel Vaillant and are personalised with the letter V for Vaillante.

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