The Seat Martorell plant today closes a fifteen-year relationship with Audi with the end of the production of the Audi A1. In fact, relations between the two brands of the Volkswagen group in Baix Llobregat are older, as they started in 2009, with the start of production of the Seat Exeo, an aspirational saloon with a three-box body and estate or station wagon that was actually an Audi A4 from the previous generation, called with the internal nomenclature B7. The very good work of those in Martorell with the Exeo led the Volkswagen Group's management to trust Martorell to manufacture the Audi Q3 SUV there between 2011 and 2018, before a new strategic repositioning saw the VAG Group's top brass assign the manufacture of the Audi A1 there, a model that has been current between 2018 and this 2026.

In 2012, an then unknown Elon Musk challenged the automotive giants with the presentation of the Model S, a sporty electric sedan that aimed to become a breath of fresh air in a world where diesel and gasoline cars seemed to be the undisputed kings of the market. More than one must have taken it as a joke. Fourteen years later, the automotive world has changed a lot, and an important part of the shift has been, it must be acknowledged, the deafening success of the Model S and its twin brother in SUV format, the Tesla Model X.The case of the Model S and Model X are a true rara avis in a changing world, as the same platform or automotive base has been in use for fourteen long years in a unique and worthy-of-study case. And it is that during all these years Tesla has grown and gained fame and popularity on all five continents in a dazzling way, forcing conventional manufacturers to follow in its footsteps to avoid being left out of the game. However, recent years have been more full of shadows due to political adventures and Elon Musk's controversial statements, which have significantly lowered the brand's transgressive, ecological, and innovative image.The Model S and Model X have been manufactured at the Fremont plant (on the outskirts of San Jose, in the state of California) for the last fourteen years. This is a factory that began producing the Model S in 2012 with only about 1,000 employees on staff and has grown with new production lines and models to reach 22,000 employees today and far exceed half a million units manufactured each year. The recipe for keeping the two cars fresh and relevant on a commercial scale without suffering excessive wear in global sales has been to fill them with technological innovations, such as remote updates, the use of Grok (the proprietary AI system of Tesla and Elon Musk's other companies), and the Plaid versions with over 1,000 conventional HP.

The number of deaths from being run over on Spanish roads during Easter has been the highest in the last ten years, despite the entry into force of the mandatory V-16 luminous signaling system. In fact, the obligation to acquire this luminous warning system for emergencies or breakdowns connected to the DGT, which shows the location of cars with incidents in real time, was based on a supposed improvement in safety for vehicle occupants in these situations, but the first major travel campaign of the year, coinciding with the Easter holidays, has demonstrated the ineffectiveness of this system in combating being run over and associated mortality.From AUGC (Unified Association of the Civil Guard), the majority association of agents of la Benemérita, they point directly to the ineffectiveness of these devices and state that "false expectations" had been created around the implementation of the luminous and geolocated V-16 signal. Carlos Cantero, head of the traffic area of this association of civil guards, assures that the death data reveal that this system has proven to be "ineffective" in reducing the mortality figures due to being run over. It is still relevant that this luminous warning system was patented by two former Civil Guard officers and that a business of more than 1,200 million euros was generated. For this reason, Facua denounced the DGT for promoting a massive fraud with the obligation of this device. To conclude, the head of traffic of the AUGC denounces that the DGT “has not listened to the opinion of the agents who are on the street” and that “prevention must be improved” to reduce the unacceptable increase in mortality associated with the new V-16 device.

Honda is suffering the worst crisis in its history, after the automotive division registered losses exceeding 4.2 billion euros during the Japanese fiscal year, which ends on March 31st each year. This is the first time in the Japanese brand's 70-year history that a fiscal year has closed with financial losses, causing a real earthquake that has shaken the foundations of the Nipponese brand. In fact, one of the first measures taken by the company's management has been to rethink the brand's industrial roadmap, oriented towards a total electrification of its range.The poor results of a historically profitable and sound brand like Honda's automotive division (which includes the high-performance subsidiary Acura) are mainly due to the involution of the North American market because of the trade tariffs imposed by the Trump administration and the transition process towards electric cars, which is not progressing at the pace foreseen by the brand.Let's take it step by step, though. To grasp the magnitude of the tragedy, one must first understand that Honda is a brand with a large commercial presence in the United States, a country where it also has several production plants such as those in the state of Ohio, where the Honda CR-V is manufactured, or the factories in Lincoln and Greenwood, in the states of Indiana and Alabama respectively, where Honda Civics and various Acura models for the North American market are produced. However, since 2010 Honda has also opened new plants in Mexico and Canada, taking advantage of the free trade agreements between the countries of North America, where the HR-V, the brand's best-selling car worldwide, is manufactured. The new trade tariffs approved by the Trump administration have made models manufactured in Canada or Mexico no longer competitive in the North American market, with a consequent drop in sales. As Honda manufactures some of its best-selling models in Mexico or Canada, its product has become exponentially more expensive due to trade tariffs, causing the price of cars to become uncompetitive in the United States market. To try to compensate for the increase in the final price of its product, Honda has had to cut the commercial margin for each unit sold of the Honda and Acura divisions, and if to this factor we add that sales have not grown in volume, the reason for the brand's crisis is perfectly understood. And it is that during the year 2025 Honda sold a total of 3,312,000 cars, 10% less than the previous year. Fewer cars sold, and with a smaller margin: the key to the brand's financial storms.A rather uninspiring electricity demand

The second factor that has contributed to Honda's poor economic result has been the low demand for electric vehicles worldwide and the sizing and investments that the brand had made since the launch of the Honda e, a magnificent electric car that we were able to test six years ago and that was supposed to be the spearhead of the Japanese brand's electric strategy. In reality, however, the Honda e and the rest of the brand's electric models have turned out to be a great commercial failure for the Japanese brand.

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It has been six years since Seat presented its latest model, the fourth generation of the Seat Leon, probably the best car manufactured by Seat. Since then, however, those from Baix Llobregat have focused all their commercial efforts on the Cupra brand, which over the last few years has presented several new models (Born, Raval, Terramar, Tavascan, and Formentor). This policy of differentiating the Cupra brand from Seat has reached the point where even the Cupra Leon has received specific aesthetic updates to distinguish it ostentatiously from the model bearing the Seat logo.The current Seat range is based on the best-sellers Arona and Ibiza, the already veteran Ateca and the León, the only Seat with a plug-in hybrid version and eligible for an ecological sticker. Along the way, the Martorell brand has lost important models such as the Tarraco, has renounced the Seat Mó sustainable mobility division and agreements to manufacture scooters with Silence, and finally, the brand has not opted for mild hybrid or mild hybrid mechanics to improve the consumption and emissions of the Arona, Ateca and Ibiza, the brand's great commercial strongholds.Although Seat's commercial range is starting to age, the green numbers it presents at the end of each commercial year have allowed it to avoid – for the moment – the threat of closing shifts and production lines, as has happened with other brands in the Volkswagen group. Seat, despite everything and against all odds, is profitable and this has been, until now, its lifeline.The dismissal of Wayne Griffiths, a supporter of the Seat brand in Wolfsburg, and the impossibility of opening new lines of financing for new models, raise some questions regarding the brand's continuity. The leadership of the Volkswagen group is decisively committed to Cupra, and in fact, it is Seat's sports brand that has received technological and mechanical improvements from Volkswagen, while Seat does not have (and probably will not have) any electric car in its range. Griffiths' successor at the helm of Seat, Markus Haupt, now has the difficult mission of leading a new direction with goals, achievement indicators, and new horizons for Seat when it is not a priority brand for the Volkswagen group.The group's Cinderella

Seat has historically been a brand condemned to be the Cinderella of the Volkswagen group, far from the centers of power and decision in Wolfsburg and little valued in relation to Skoda, Audi or Volkswagen itself. In fact, Seat has never premiered any mechanics or technology from the group since it became part of the orbit of the Volkswagen group during the 1980s, but the current situation, with a long five-year wait to present new models (and probably some more years will still pass) is absolutely unprecedented.Following the outbreak of the Dieselgate case and the emissions scandal that fully implicated the Volkswagen group, the Germans decided to make a historic change of course, and practically overnight became a manufacturer fully focused on electric cars. In fact, the group has not introduced any mechanical improvements or new gasoline or diesel engines since 2019. It has maintained existing combustion powertrains and has bet on new fully electric models. More than six years later, however, the electric car market is still not fully mature, and Volkswagen has had to adjust the price of its new electric cars considerably to make them competitive against the great Chinese offensive.In this context of stagnation of new combustion engine models and a firm commitment to the electric car, the group's management has shown how Seat is not an industrial or commercial priority, and has relegated it to the only brand in the group without a fully electric car. The Volkswagen group's strategy has been to offer electric models with other features (and high prices) at Porsche or Audi, to position Skoda and Volkswagen as more or less accessible intermediate options for the general public, and to entrust Cupra with the role of an aspirational and sporty brand, which leaves Seat outside the brand's electrification roadmap.Seat is now facing one of the key moments in its history: it is seeking its own identity within the Volkswagen group and investments in research and development of new models that must serve to guarantee the brand's continuity. The Volkswagen group is very hesitant to comment on a possible expiry date for the brand and its total conversion into Cupra, but it has also not presented any future plan that includes new models (electric or not) for Seat. With an eye on the entry into force of emission limits for car manufacturers in 2027, it is difficult to imagine that Seat will be able to reverse the current situation and develop a new product range capable of homologating the new emission limits set by the European Union.Meanwhile, Seat continues to offer a range of products with reliable and proven combustion engines, practically perfect from a technical point of view, but which cannot compete in terms of consumption and emissions with its more modern rivals. Time is running out for the Martorell brand, which proudly and stoically maintains its market share, with the Ibiza and Arona bearing the brunt of Seat's sales and keeping the company's numbers in the black at the end of each fiscal year.

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After having incurred millionaire losses due to the fiasco of the PureTech gasoline engines in recent months, the Stellantis group faces a new industrial crisis that will involve the recall of more than 40,000 vehicles in Spain manufactured between 2023 and 2026 due to a fire risk alert for the new PureTech engines. This new warning, generated by the European Union's alert system (Safety Gate), affects about fifteen Stellantis group models that use the 1.2 PureTech gasoline engine associated with a semi-hybrid, light hybrid, or Mild Hybrid system.The problem that generates the risk of fire in models with this engine is the small space between the particle filter and the alternator, which, by generating high temperatures and not cooling down properly, can lead to a fire in the vehicle. The Setllantis group admits this risk, although it points out that so far only about a dozen vehicles have been recorded as having caught fire worldwide and states that it has already begun to contact buyers of the affected cars to carry out a revision.

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Volkswagen and Cupra will recall a total of 94,000 electric cars, manufactured between February 7, 2022, and August 23, 2024, in the case of Volkswagen models, and between February 7, 2022, and April 21, 2024, in the case of Cupra models, due to a problem detected with the battery module of the electric cars Cupra Born and Volkswagen ID.3, ID.4, ID.5, and ID.Buzz.Although no fire cases have been reported, affected units can register incidents in the battery pack, which generate a warning on the dashboard and a significant reduction in the vehicle's autonomy, and in extreme cases can ultimately result in a thermal overload that causes the batteries to catch fire.This incident, detected by the German vehicle approval authority (KBA), can be resolved through a check at an official dealership, where, based on a software update of the vehicle, the actual condition of each battery module can be thoroughly analyzed. In case any module is found to be operating irregularly, it will be replaced with a new one, without the inspection and possible replacement incurring any cost for the customers.Cupra sources have confirmed that this incident may affect around 500 registered Cupra Born units currently in circulation in Spain, and they recommend that customers do not charge the batteries above 80% of their capacity and do so outdoors before the car has been checked by the brand's technical service. However, the first reports indicate that a total of 19,500 units of the Cupra Born manufactured between February 2022 and April 2024 have been sold worldwide. In fact, the first three units that reported this incident were three Cupra Borns manufactured in 2023 and operating in Australia, which in early January of the same year, coinciding with the Australian summer, overheated the battery modules and caused small fires in the car.At this point, it is worth noting that all affected models (the Cupra Born and the Volkswagen ID.3, ID.4, ID.5, and ID.Buzz) have been manufactured at the German plant in Zwickau, where the Audi Q4 e-tron is also produced. However, unlike the rest of the models, Audi's electric car has not been recalled and does not appear to suffer from the same issue as the Volkswagen and Cupra cars.An electric leadership still to consolidate

Although the registered incident is not serious and that the official Volkswagen and Cupra services can resolve it with a software reprogramming and the replacement of faulty modules, it is clear to everyone that this recall catches the Volkswagen group at a delicate moment. And it is that, despite Volkswagen becoming the main manufacturer of electric cars in 2025, the sales figures for these models are still far from the objectives set in 2019, when the new electric strategy of the Lower Saxony group was presented.

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After having established its range in the Spanish state and achieved a foothold in an increasingly complex market, Ebro has this week inaugurated the first five dealerships of the brand in Portugal, in the cities of Porto, Aveiro, Viseu, Leiria, Coïmbra and Lisboa thanks to a collaboration agreement with the Portuguese distributors of the MCoutinho group.Ebro lands in Portugal with the S400 models, S700, S800 and S900, with conventional hybrid or HEV versions, plug-in hybrid or PHEV, and conventional combustion engines, as well as with front-wheel drive or all-wheel drive variants. Throughout 2026, the brand expects to also introduce a fully electric model, also assembled at the Barcelona plant.The arrival in Portugal is a first step in the brand's international growth strategy, which expects to open five more dealerships before the end of the year and reach 20 dealerships throughout the country by 2028. The Portuguese market is Ebro's first international venture, which has also planned to open new dealerships in Croatia, Slovenia, and Bulgaria.The fastest growing brand in Spain

Ebro has been the brand that has grown the most and fastest in Spain over the last sixteen months, thanks to the alliance with distribution groups and dealerships and the industrial, financial, and technological support of Chery, the parent company of the Zona Franca brand. In this regard, Johnson Xu, vice president of Chery, has announced that Ebro will "deepen local production" in Barcelona and in the new R&D center in Cornellà to adjust the brand's product to the tastes and preferences of European buyers and "sustain the brand's growth".

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The announcement of the VAT reduction on fuels from 21% to 10% just over a week ago, decreed by the Spanish government, has not had the expected effects, according to the consumer association Facua. This extraordinary measure, intended to cushion the impact of rising crude oil prices due to the war in Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, has made it possible to reduce the price of fuel (diesel and gasoline) and move it away from two euros per liter, but it has not had the desired real impact on the pockets of final consumers, according to Rubén Sánchez, spokesperson for Facua.The consumer association estimates that one in every four petrol stations took advantage of the entry into force of the decree that reduces the price of VAT on fuels to apply a hidden price increase, and criticizes the refusal of Pedro Sánchez's executive to set price caps on fuel or limit the final commercial margin of petrol stations on the final price.  

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Volvo Cars is one of Europe's biggest aspirational manufacturers, and perhaps the only one capable of consistently and systematically challenging the German triumvirate of Audi, BMW and Mercedes, which has dominated the Old Continent with an iron fist for years.

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The BMW 3 Series has historically been the backbone of the Munich-based brand. However, the passage of time and electrification have led BMW to take the step of establishing a parallel commercial offering to its flagship vehicle in a 100% electric version, called the i3.

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The battle for electric cars in Europe has long since become a duel between aspirational or luxury brands and SUVs or crossovers with enough space to transport the whole family. Volvo has now unveiled its eighth electric car, the EX60, a vehicle designed to compete in the aspirational compact SUV segment against the new BMW iX3 and the Mercedes GLC EQamong others.

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The armed conflict in Iran and the marked instability in the Persian Gulf region have driven up the price of crude oil worldwide. Just as happened in 2022 with the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the price of Brent crude (the global benchmark for oil prices) has soared above $100 a barrel, and this trend doesn't appear likely to change in the short term.

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Last year BYD made history by becoming the first brand to surpass Tesla as the world's leading manufacturer of electric cars with more than 2,260,000 units sold, a figure that rises to 4,550,000 electrified cars if we add the sales of hybrid cars.

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Just twenty years ago, coinciding with the Tokyo Motor Show, Volkswagen presented the expensive concept or EcoRacer prototype, a type vehicle roadster –a convertible, rear-wheel drive, and with compact dimensions and weight—which the brand came very close to putting into production. In fact, it's not surprising that at that time mainstream brands were introducing small, sporty, convertible models. Opel manufactured a similar vehicle called the Speedster, Mazda the famous MX-5, and Seat dreamed of models like the Bolero or TangoBut what truly set the Volkswagen prototype apart was its engine, a rarity that would have made it a unicorn in the automotive world.

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Andorra is a unique case worldwide when it comes to vehicle sales. Most people are already used to seeing expensive, high-performance models with Andorran license plates, but the ranking of best-selling vehicles for 2025 crowns the Pyrenean country as a rare elderly In the automotive world, the Porsche 911 has established itself as the best-selling car of the year, while BMW and Mercedes lead the ranking of best-selling brands.

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The sixth generation of the RAV4 is here. Toyota has updated its flagship SUV, a model that has become the benchmark in the hybrid SUV segment worldwide, with conventional hybrid (HEV) and plug-in hybrid (PHEV) versions and a stylish and powerful design.

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In 1976, Volkswagen could hardly have imagined the enormous commercial success that the first Golf GTI would achieve. This quintessential sporty and youthful compact car quickly earned an iconic reputation, becoming the benchmark in its segment. From the outset, the GTI (Gran Turismo Injection) designation was associated with fast, aspirational, fun, and highly regarded cars that other manufacturers tried to emulate with varying degrees of success. A Golf GTI is, quite simply, a production Golf that retains its front-wheel drive but incorporates more powerful engines and certain aesthetic details, such as the upholstery, front end, and wheel arches, that identify it as the brand's sporty and youthful variant.

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The Dacia Sandero was the best-selling car in Spain in 2025 and consolidates an unprecedented historical hegemony in our market, adding the thirteenth consecutive year leading the ranking of best-selling vehicles in the State.

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The strong sales figures for Chinese brands like MG, Omoda, Jaecoo, Leapmotor, and Lynk&Co in the Spanish market during 2025 are just the vanguard of the large-scale Chinese automotive rollout that the Asian giant has designed in southern Europe, with Barcelona and Catalonia as its spearhead.

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