It's a real shame for the brand, and when I take a bit more of an overarching view of this I'm confused.
We live in a time when fuel types are changing, as is the core focus of what drives buyer behaviour in the showroom (tax / MPG / green etc...)
Manufacturers drove this aspiration to pour money into their motorsport efforts to be seen to win and be the best, but when the opportunity is there to scale back they'd rather run and hide than compete on even terms.
VAG are about to launch a £37.5k (fully loaded Golf R), the most expensive VAG hatch ever, but don't seem to have any tangible presence in the VAG group of any motorsport activity or involvement outside DTM or Le Mans which doesn't support this mainstream sector.
There must be a lot of customers, particularly in the UK, who buy into SEAT as a serious alternative to the VW/Audi stuff as it's still most of the car without the bull$hit perceptions that run alongside the perceived
badge prestige. Even though I don't own a SEAT today, to me I am passionate about it for what it has achieved in its time playing the sporting brand (some far more memorable metal in some cases than VW/Audi).
This feels a tad like the brand is being neutered by Wolfsburg, and its such a shame. I for one will miss watching SEAT's at the weekend.