OK now, for those who want to know more:
1. What is Seat?
Seat is a Spanish automaker taken over by VW in 1990. It actually has more than a half a century of history behind itself, and for the most of it, simply manufactured rebadged Fiat models for the Spanish market, then for a brief period broke off to develop some models independently, more or less based on the old Fiats, and sell them Europewide, only to resort to VW to help them with quality and development issues.
2. But what kind of brand exactly Seat is?
Well, this is not entirely clear even to VAG. At first, they were groomed by VW to be kind-of "budget" alternative to VWs, as they outgrew their original mission of being "people's cars". VW-based Seats were slightly larger than corresponding VWs, and in a way slid between VW's own offerings - i.e. the subcompact Ibiza was larger than the Polo it was mostly based upon, but smaller than the Golf. They also tended to use a mixture of components from concurrent VWs and models that went out of production, i.e. old Golfs.
But then came Skoda, which VW purchased later, and which essentially filled the same mission, with even greater success due to its established position in Eastern Europe and other factors. So VW had to reinvent Seat.
They tried to reposition them as a sporty brand akin to Alfa Romeo, but the problem was that VW was the premium brand, not Seat, and that the offerings, while attractive-looking, were little than more rounded VWs or Skodas with a selection of engines including both powerful turbos AND very small engines designed to fit favorably with the German tax system. A 60 HP car could've been sporty in 1912, but not in 2002...
Finally, Seat got a selection of MPV-like vehicles, which did not share VW's "refrigerator" look, but also weren't as spacious. They also didn't quite convey the "sporty message". Seat also got a new stylist, which designed the "angry warthog" front end seen above.
3. Why an Audi?
Under the new VAG arrangement, Audi leads a "sporty" group, which encompasses the Inglostadt brand, SEAT, Lamborghini and, I think, Bugatti, while Skoda, Bentley and VW form the, well, "non-sporty" (?) group - that is why VW built the Scirocco obviously
This was a way of trying to somehow reorganise the cluster of quite overlapping portfolio of brands, and also appease the ambitions of VAG managers, such as the imperious Audi head, who now heads the entire concern. The problem is that it actually created two competing groups within one company. So, now, Audi won't share platforms with the lowly VW, but will hand down their expired models to Seat, while VW will do the same with Skoda while trying to upstage Audi. How thoughtful.
4. What the hell is Exeo?
I don't know, and I am not sure if VW knows either. Traditionally, Seats were named after locations in Spain - Marbella, Malaga, Ibiza, Cordoba, Alhambra, Toledo, Leon (a city and region). This car replaces the unsuccesful Seat Toledo, which for 3 generations was:
1. A mixture of old and new Golf parts with an oversized body and a huge trunk, marketed as an alternative to midsize cars for less money - this generation was fairly successful, but suffered from quality/reliability issues.
2. A more bubbly version of Skoda Octavia / VW Bora, with limited access to its large trunk through a very small opening in the rear - reasonable sales, but overshadowed by the Octavia, and many other compacts. A hatchback version, Seat Leon, was developed and became much more popular.
3. A mixture between an MPV and a sedan, i.e. a Seat Altea compact MPV with a vestigial notchback trunk, and a "midsize" price tag. It bombed.
It is understandable why VW would want us to forget about their failed, yet daring for a company likeVW, experiment the 3rd Toledo was. Yet still, the name has recognition, and sounds nice. It was almost waiting for a vehicle like the above one to really deserve it.
5. Will it be coming to the US?
I doubt it. VW, for some reason, is curbing international ambitions of their non-German core brands, and if anybody, Skoda gets the green light (they are already in India and China, manufactured locally, though still not in North America). For Seat, it would've made sense to take care of Latin America, where VW is juggling their position of market leader thanks to a selection of ancient or budget models, such as Fox, Gol and Santana, and the image of a sophisticated German manufacturer with their newer models.
IMHO, it would've made sense, even with some marketing gamble, to move the older models to Seat (which seems to be returning to its role as "life extender" for good constructions anyway), and free up VW to become a more "premium" brand on a global scale, yet still. Not to mention e.g. the Brazilian Gol could've still sold well as an alternative to Dacias in other parts of the world:
