Seat: employment and industry are the most important

It is not at all strange that the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa; the Minister of Industry, Jordi Hereu, and the leader of the UGT, Pepe Álvarez, among others, have hastened to highlight the importance of Seat not only in industrial terms but also in terms of employment. In a changing world where industries that seemed to have their perpetuity guaranteed find themselves in full transformation (in the automotive sector, from the combustion engine to the electric vehicle), the Volkswagen (VW) group is considering the future of this historic brand, which has been part of the Catalan and Spanish economy since the 50s of the last century. However, over the last few years, the brand has been losing ground in favor of a newer and more modern one, Cupra, created in 2018 as an independent brand.

What is important is that the activity of a company with such significance and weight in the industry as a whole continues. At no point does it seem that VW has questioned the future of Seat as a company, but rather as a brand. One element to highlight is that for six years it has not released a new model with this badge, while it has not stopped launching new ones under the Cupra brand. But the fact is that, as a subsidiary of VW, its future is not in doubt, since the Martorell factory, which was inaugurated in the 90s and has been the subject of huge investments by the German multinational in recent years, is the third most productive of the Volkswagen group in Europe. The consortium based in Wolfsburg sees it as a great asset with potential, and this is what must be promoted, and the administrations and unions will have to ensure that this is the case.

Something else is the Seat brand, the commercial emblem, once the cuts to the VW group have the approval of the supervisory board. Its future "continues to be analyzed," according to a statement from the company. "In the current context, with increasingly demanding regulation, the cost of electrification and the investment required to develop a new generation of electric models make this analysis to continue investing in the Seat brand increasingly complex," they add. "Depending on how the regulation, customer demand, and market conditions evolve, the continuity of the Seat brand will be assessed," they explain.

Everything points to the fact that the future of the company lies more with the Cupra brand than with the Seat brand. In this country, it has enormous emotional connotations, both for those who work there or have worked there and for those who have had some of its models over these more than 70 years of existence, which began in 1953 with the 600. All efforts must be focused on maintaining an industry that is strategic for the country, as well as a source of employment in an activity that provides salaries above the average. It will be necessary to ensure that VW's statement that Seat SA (the company) "has a solid future" is fulfilled. Just like the commitment to transform the company "into an automotive powerhouse within the Volkswagen group".