New setback for the European Union's climate goals. The continent's economic engines, France and Germany, reached an agreement this Friday to soften the climate requirements for the automotive sector and maintain the manufacturing of combustion vehicles beyond 2035. This was announced by the French government in a statement, in which it details that the pact also includes tools to strengthen production conditions within Europe. This proposal has been a major demand from European manufacturers, who are currently working hastily to electrify in the face of strong Chinese competition.

Seat models continue to sell –and a lot– throughout the Spanish territory. Although their future is up in the air given the company's plans not to electrify its models, its product range is consolidating in the State: according to the data released this Wednesday by the Catalan company, the brand totaled 52,660 registrations between January and September, which represents 4.3% more than in the same period of 2025.

“Right now we have no plans to electrify Seat models”. The CEO of the Catalan industrial company, Markus Haupt, assured this Monday in Paris that the brand does not plan to electrify any of its cars, despite stating that “the future is electric”. Thus, Haupt pointed out that “regulation” will be what dictates the future of the Seat brand in the face of demanding European regulations to decarbonize the automotive industry. It will also be necessary to see what the evolution of the market is, which is increasingly betting on electric vehicles: “Even if there is a second period of flexibility (regarding emission regulations), we have to see if customers in the main markets will continue to buy combustion vehicles”.

The Volkswagen Group – parent company of the Catalan brands Seat and Cupra – demanded this Sunday in Paris to "reward" the production of vehicles made in Europe to be able to compete on equal terms with Chinese manufacturers. Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume asserted that Europe "must continue to guarantee fair competitive conditions in its own markets." "Whoever sells here must compete under comparable conditions and also create jobs and value here, in Europe," the executive emphasized, at an event also attended by the CEO of Seat and Cupra, Markus Haupt.

Matías Carnero (UGT) is not only the president of the Seat works council, but he is also a member of the Volkswagen Group's supervisory board, the highest control body of the German company. He speaks with ARA in the midst of the consortium's crisis: the group is expected to eliminate up to 100,000 jobs worldwide and significantly reduce its models. The historic Catalan brand Seat could be greatly affected.

It was the year 1948 when the National Institute of Industry (INI), the Italian manufacturer Fiat, and a consortium of Spanish financial entities led by Banco Urquijo agreed to collaborate on the creation of a vehicle plant in Barcelona. Two years later, in 1950, the birth of the Spanish Society of Touring Automobiles (SEAT) would be signed before a notary, which would later become the industrial giant of Catalonia.

The Volkswagen group remains in the eye of the storm. Less than two weeks after announcing its reorganization plan (which will affect hundreds of thousands of workers in Europe and entail the closure of factories in Germany), the industrial group based in Wolfsburg must face a new problem affecting more than 2.8 million passenger cars from the Audi, Volkswagen, and Seat brands manufactured between September 2013 and July 2024.

The Volkswagen group stars in two of the main appointments of the week: on one hand, Daniel Cortina will be the new director of institutional relations for Seat and Cupra; on the other, Skoda loses its CEO, Klaus Zellmer, who is joining Volvo as executive president. Another notable move is the hiring of Isabel Schnabel, from the European Central Bank (ECB), by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Also noteworthy is the announcement from Delivery Hero –owner of Glovo–, which is backtracking and, finally, Niklas Östberg will continue as CEO, after assuring in May that he was leaving the position.

The continuity of Seat is hanging by a thread. Although the Catalan brand's models currently continue to have a great market outlet, the Volkswagen Group is studying the possibility of retiring the historic firm by 2029. The decision is part of the restructuring plan being promoted by the German giant, which plans to halve its models and also significantly reduce production. The group's proposal, moreover, will also have serious consequences for the workforce: 100,000 layoffs are expected worldwide.

The Spanish government is convinced that the Seat brand will survive the cuts being studied by the Volkswagen group. In an intervention at the Fòrum Europa Tribuna Catalunya, the Secretary of State for Industry, Jordi Garcia Brustenga, has assured that he has "zero doubts" about its continuity, and has asked the German group to continue investing in the Catalan company and launching "new models." Garcia Brustenga also highlighted the "intangible" value of Seat in the territory. The future of the historic brand is up in the air after the company itself admitted last week that it is analyzing the possibility of eliminating it starting in 2030.

The academic year has begun with alarms ringing in the unions, but also in the public administration, after the Volkswagen group put the Seat brand in play, which has placed the Martorell factory in the crosshairs. "Martorell will not disappear," stated the secretary general of CCOO, Unai Sordo, this Monday morning during an intervention at the Ateneo de Madrid. The message seeks to provide reassurance, especially to the employees, and the president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, and the Minister of Economy, Carlos Cuerpo, also joined in this Monday. In fact, they have all rushed to defend the Seat brand: "It is historic," Sordo affirmed. "It is a product that must continue to be championed," he reiterated.

The announcement of adjustments and staff cuts at the Volkswagen group last week – the first of this magnitude in the 89-year history of the brand– will be accompanied by a historic restructuring of the models manufactured by the group to reduce production costs and maintain the competitiveness of the brands.

In 2018, with Luca de Meo as president and Wayne Griffiths as vice president of marketing and sales, Seat took the step: it launched a new brand, Cupra. Only two years later, Griffiths, already president of Seat, said that the new brand would close that year, 2020, with a turnover of 1 billion euros, practically 10% of the entire group. We journalists received it with skepticism, but that is how it was. From that moment on, Cupra has not stopped growing. And last year, in 2025, the new brand already sold more cars than the historic –it is over 70 years old– Seat.

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.

The cuts at the Volkswagen group have already been approved by the supervisory board. However, it is not clear what will happen to the group's Spanish brand, Seat. While the German press reported on Thursday that the intention is for the Seat brand to disappear by 2029 at the latest, this Friday the Martorell-based company claimed its role within the Volkswagen group, but without clarifying in any case what its future will be.

The Volkswagen Group's supervisory board approved the company's restructuring plan this Friday evening, which will involve the elimination of 50,000 jobs in Germany and the possible closure of four factories in the country—Emden, Zwickau, Hanover, and Neckarsulm—by 2030. The meeting's resolution was expected for this Friday, but the company advanced the result on Thursday evening. The group, however, did not explain tonight what the future of the Seat brand, controlled by Volkswagen, will be. The CEO of the Volkswagen Group, Oliver Blume, in a statement, celebrated the unanimous approval of the restructuring plan as a "decisive" signal for the company's future and announced million-euro investments for the coming years. The supervisory board includes representatives from the founding shareholder families, unions, and the government of Lower Saxony.

The Volkswagen Group confirms its first major workforce reduction in Germany since its founding 89 years ago. After the automotive company announced its plans to reduce at least 100,000 jobs globally, all bad omens were confirmed this Tuesday, especially for the company's workers in the Germanic country. The company will dispense with approximately 50,000 employees in Germany, its main production center with a dozen plants and more than 250,000 workers.

The Catalan car manufacturer Seat is experiencing a sweet moment amidst a complicated period for its parent company, the German group Volkswagen, which is considering severe staff cuts. Between January and June, the Martorell-based company tripled its operating profit, reaching 122 million euros, as reported this Friday in a statement.

The Volkswagen Group is experiencing a severe crisis and is preparing to transform itself. Europe's leading car manufacturer convened the twenty members of its supervisory board this Thursday to discuss the restructuring plan designed by the company's CEO, Oliver Blume. Although the details discussed at the meeting are still unknown, according to a statement from the group, its plans include halving the range of its models. Currently, across all brands, Volkswagen's vehicle range is configured with around 150 models.

The German automotive group Volkswagen reported this Thursday that it will reduce its production capacities by 25% to 9 million vehicles annually to adapt them to the global market situation and increased competition. The company, which has an installed capacity of 12 million vehicles, will also gradually reduce the supply of its car models by up to 50%, concentrating on the most attractive market segments. Currently, the group is configured with around 150 models, across all brands.