Forty years after the 600, SEAT launched the Arosa, a new entry model to the brand but devised according to the most up-to-date requirements and needs. The unveiling of the SEAT Arosa took place in the prestigious setting of the Geneva Motor Show, in March 1997.

For the first time, the little SEAT offered a range of very different displacement engines, initially a 50 HP 1.0 and a 60 HP 1.4, both petrol and the latter with an automatic gearbox in option. That same year they were joined by a 1.7 naturally aspirated diesel engine. It was a novelty in a small SEAT, since the Arosa's predecessor, the Marbella, had only had a diesel engine available in the van version, the Terra.

Actually the Arosa lived together for a year in the market with the Marbella, the car it was to replace. However, its approach was very different. The Arosa clearly prioritized habitability and driving comfort, even to the detriment of the trunk's capacity, much smaller than that of the Marbella.

If the SEAT Panda had pioneered in 1980 the A segment of city small cars, the Arosa was a new take on the concept for the 21st century. It could be either a four-seater city car or a two-seater coupe for road trips; more modern, refined, elegant, and also much safer (it already had ABS in option) and better equipped.

The engine range diversified even further over time. In 2000 came the sporting 1.4 16v, delivering 101 HP (twice the basic version!), and the 75 HP, 3-cylinder 1.4 TDI, with a consumption of just 3.5 l/100 km.

However, in terms of fuel economy the undisputed king was the Arosa 3L, a prototype launched in late 1999, powered by a 61 HP 1.2 TDI engine, also a 3-cylinder. It was named after its average consumption of 2.99 litres, although some of the 60 international journalists who tested the two existing units in Barcelona even improved this figure, and one of them got to 2.66 l/100 km.

The Arosa was deeply restyled in late 2000. Launched at the Paris Motor Show that year, the Arosa II had a much more attractive look, with a front similar to the Ibiza and Cordoba, also recently restyled. The interior was brand new, with a very different dashboard.

At the Frankfurt Motor Show the following year, SEAT unveiled two design exercises of the Martorell Technical Center based on the Arosa: the Arosa Racer sports car and the Arosa City Cruiser. Both were two-seaters, just like the roadster SEAT Tango, also unveiled in the same German motor show.

The updated Arosa was produced until mid-2004 and discontinued later that year. It had been an important model in SEAT's history: not only it was launched a full year and a half before its cousin, the VW Lupo, but it was also the first SEAT manufactured in Germany. Indeed, until production moved to Martorell in mid-1998, around 30,000 Arosas had been made at Wolfsburg. It would take 20 years for something like this to be repeated, now with the SEAT Tarraco.

With more than 200,000 units manufactured in seven years, the Arosa's farewell also meant a break in SEAT's offer in the A segment, until the Mii's unveiling in 2011.

SEAT HISTÓRICOS keeps both an Arosa and an Arosa II, as well as the two Arosa 3L prototypes.