Why doesn't Seat make an electric 600?
The 600 was one of the most important industrial products of the 20th century in Catalonia, but Seat cannot play the emotional 'retro' card used by other models such as the Fiat 500, the Renault R5 and 4L due to a conflict with the rights to the original model.
The new Renault 4L (popularly called Quatre Llaunes) is back on the road, now in a zero-emission electric version. In fact, the remake This legendary model forms the core of the French brand's electrification strategy, which we saw at the Automobile de Barcelona, working in tandem with the new electric version of the no less legendary R5.
Luca de Meo, president of the Renault Group, has revived the 4L and the R5, the two big names of the diamond brand during the 1980s and early 1990s, with the aim of focusing the brand's electric offensive. Thought about it, this strategy makes perfect sense: it connects the potential buyer with a familiar and memorable product, focuses on a retro or vintage design and aesthetic (very much in line with current trends), and replicates a successful strategy initiated by the Italian brand Fiat in 2008 with the return of the 500, when Luca de Meo himself relaunched it.
At the moment, the reality is that electric car sales are failing to take off in the Old Continent, due to a combination of several reasons that can be summarized essentially as a still-deficient charging network and infrastructure and high purchase prices. Aware of these limitations, Renault's executives have decided to play the emotional card with their two "retro" models with the aim of improving their sales figures, clearly and concisely appealing to the key buyer segment: the 40- to 70-year-old population with sufficient purchasing power and a youthful outlook. As we mentioned, this strategy is nothing new, as it replicates one already tested more than 16 years ago by other major manufacturers, such as BMW with the Mini brand or Fiat with its iconic 500, in both cases with more than notable commercial results. In fact, it was Luca de Meo himself who repeated the trick with the resurrection of Alpine, Renault's sports and other performance subsidiary, which took off in the late 1970s and early 1980s and was another commercial success.
However, this decisive commitment to the nostalgic in the new electric offensive is not the exclusive property of Renault, and affects other brands such as Opel and the electric prototype of the Manta or Peugeot with thee-Legend, among other ideas and projects that have yet to materialize. The main problem with electric cars lies in their selling price and the availability of charging stations, and in this sense, the retro aesthetic and emotional appeal serve to promote the sale of these products.
Carlos Tavares, former CEO of the Stellantis Group, openly stated that "the electric car is a superior product, and the transition to electric cars must be achieved through aid and subsidies for the purchase of the product to reduce its higher price." In other words, at this time, major European manufacturers are not even considering reducing the price of their electric cars, but rather are focusing on incentivizing their implementation through public aid, making the administration co-responsible for the process of transformation and electrification of the European vehicle fleet.
Finally, there is one last element that explains the commitment of major European manufacturers to zero-emission revival cars, and it is none other than the significant threat from China. Europe cannot and will not compete with China in terms of the competitiveness and purchase price of its electric cars, but it knows perfectly well that emotionally connecting potential buyers with a familiar product that generates fond memories is a decisive factor in competing against manufacturers with names still unknown and unfamiliar to the general public, such as Leapmotor, Xiaomi, or Jaecoo.
And a Seat 600 in electric mode?
When you think about the potential of Seat and its iconic models, the first car that comes to mind is the Seat 600. The 600 was a car manufactured in the Zona Franca of Barcelona between 1957 and 1973, of which almost 800,000 units were manufactured, becoming the symbol and icon Developmentalism Franco's era of the 1960s. The 600 was the first democratic, mass-market vehicle in Spain, capable of motorizing an entire country and transcending the strictly industrial and automotive framework to become a major cultural icon. We can safely say that the Seat 600 is possibly the most recognizable and beloved industrial product in 20th-century Spanish industrial history, and one that still turns necks and generates smiles and admiration as it passes by.
But the Seat 600 was actually an Italian model, manufactured under license from Fiat, and even today Fiat owns the rights to the 600, and the Italian brand, now part of the Stellantis group, doesn't want to hear about the possibility of transferring the rights to one of its historic vehicles to Seat, a brand of the Volkswagen group and with which it resonates on the boards of directors of both companies.
Fiat owns the rights to the 600, a model that Seat manufactured under license. The rights to the original model, designed by Italian Dante Giacosa in 1955, have been held by the Italian brand for at least a century, and the Agnelli family heirs refuse to hear of a possible sale or transfer of the model's rights to Seat.
If Seat were to decide to play the "retro" card, it would have to do so with one of its models developed as an independent brand, such as the Seat Ibiza or Seat Málaga, or the Toledo and Córdoba models already manufactured under the umbrella of the Volkswagen Group. With these credentials, it seems unlikely that Seat could ever develop a retro electric vehicle that emotionally connects buyers to a former (and beautiful) glory of the brand. Its future plans include converting the current fifth-generation Ibiza into a 100% electric car that takes advantage of the platform, modular elements, and Sykkowas of the future Elroq.