Spanish Society of Touring Automobiles. With these acronyms, SEAT, set out in 1950 on a path that would lead it to be the main Spanish car manufacturer: first as an emblem of the industrial capacity of a developing economy and then, with the great success of the Seat León, the spearhead of its internationalization. From the entire families that fit in a 600 to the iconic and groundbreaking Ibiza, the Seat brand, from its factory in the Barcelona Free Trade Zone at first, and later from the Martorell plant, has been one of the most recognizable in the Spanish business fabric. But even a banner so established in the public imagination can end.
The supervisory board of the Volkswagen group, Seat's parent company since 1986, has been meeting since this Thursday to present its transformation plan: the cuts and factory closures that it has to undertake to face competition from China and the loss of profitability. And if the information that appeared in German media is confirmed, one of the proposed measures is to stop investing in the Seat brand and concentrate all efforts on Cupra, a more profitable brand and on which the entire electrification strategy is fixed. The decision on this package of measures could take months, and the unions at the Martorell factory have already warned that they will strongly oppose the disappearance of Seat if there is no reliable plan to maintain production and employment. The end of the historic brand, although it has been debated for some time, has many in suspense.
Last year, the entire history of Seat was unfolded at the Barcelona Automobile Show, where all the brand's models were installed, from the first, the 1400, to the latest, the renewals of the Seat Ibiza and Arona. Curious and nostalgic motorsport enthusiasts came to this exhibition set up for its 75th anniversary. It was no wonder: in total 77 car models were celebrated, and more than 21 million vehicles manufactured, 19 of them in Spain.
Politicians and Seat officials congratulated the company—which approved extra pay for all employees for the occasion—and everyone told some anecdote about the Seat cars they had owned. Great symbols paraded there, such as the Seat 600 (of which 800,000 units were sold, a real success in Franco's Spain), the Seat 800 or the first electric car that guided the Barcelona marathon at the 1992 Olympic Games. Those responsible for Seat assured those days that there was still a future for the brand, as an umbrella for the combustion cars still necessary since the European Commission decided to postpone the veto on emissions. “Seeing the future with optimism is very important for us,” said Isidre López, responsible for Seat's historic cars.
The stage with Fiat
The history of Seat begins with one objective: to put Spain on wheels. It was 1950 when the company was established as a public company and under the umbrella of the National Institute of Industry (which disappeared in 1995 and was replaced by the State Society of Industrial Participations, SEPI), with a participation of the Italian company Fiat, which had 7% and was the technological partner: it designed the models and Seat adapted them. Getting out of the post-war misery was a priority for a Franco regime that already anticipated the need for a certain openness. And the automotive industry was one of the first levers to do so.
In 1953, the Seat factory was inaugurated in the Free Zone of Barcelona with 925 employees and one model, the Seat 1400. Three years later, 10,000 cars were being produced a year and in 1957 the first icon arrived: the Seat 600. For about 65,000 pesetas, any working family could buy this car, and the success was immediate, encouraging an incipient middle class that wanted to enter the decade of the 60s with an air of freedom. In the 16 years in which the Seat 600 was on the assembly lines of the Free Zone, some 800,000 cars of this model were manufactured in its different versions.
The sixties began with the 1500 model, the inauguration of a headquarters in Madrid and the first exports to other countries, such as Colombia. New models arrived (Seat 850, Seat 124) and in the following decade others appeared (Seat 132, Seat 1430, the special model 1600). In 1975, Seat absorbed the Landaben factory in Pamplona, which had gone bankrupt under the leadership of the British manufacturer Authi. And for the first time a car from the brand, the 1200 Sport, was designed here, from the newly opened Martorell Technical Center. The following year the milestone of three million cars manufactured was achieved.
With the eighties came other icons, such as the Seat Panda (which would later be called Marbella), the Seat Fura and, finally, the Seat Ibiza in 1984, the best-selling car in the entire history of the brand. Since then, more than six million units of this model have been manufactured in its different versions. It was the official car of the Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992 and its groundbreaking and hedonistic style garnered many followers inside and outside of Spain.
Volkswagen's entry
In 1986, some time after Fiat decided not to carry out the capital increase that was required, Seat joined the German group Volkswagen, which acquired 75% of the ownership (it increased it to 99.99% in 1990). It was the first non-German brand to fall within the scope of the Wolfsburg group. The new alliance gave the Spanish manufacturer a key boost for its internationalization.
In 1989, the construction of the Martorell plant began, officially inaugurated by King Juan Carlos I in 1993. With a production of more than eight million cars accumulated at the beginning of the nineties, the Toledo or Córdoba models began to roll. And the Cupra brand emerged as a surname for the sporty versions of Seat's most famous models. With the turn of the millennium came, among others, the Seat Salsa and the Seat Altea, and the new great success: the Seat León, launched in 1999. In the 27 years since this model was released, 2.5 million Seat Leóns have been manufactured in its different versions, which have won recognition and the international market.
The 2008 financial crisis marks the beginning of the end of Seat's success story. Increasingly stalked by economic constraints, rising costs and, more recently, by the need to move towards electric motors and competition from Chinese brands, the Seat models that have been launched in the last 15 years – Exeo, Alhambra, Mii, Ateca or Arona – have failed to emulate the success of the previous ones. The company began to see that it needed to attract new audiences and also increase profitability per car sold, and decided to promote the Cupra sub-brand, which until then had only been used for sports and racing versions. As of 2018, it appears as a brand with its own entity and as a bet for the future, as it concentrates all electrified models.
