The automotive industry is one of the main industries in our country. In recent years, however, the sector has undergone very significant changes, and has transformed. Electrification and the emergence of Chinese cars have revolutionized the vehicle market, and manufacturers are having to adapt at breakneck speed. We talk about it with Josep Maria Vall (Barcelona, 1947), president of the Cluster of the Automotive Industry of Catalonia (CIAC).

This Wednesday, line 1 of workshop 10 at the Seat factory in Martorell has begun the series assembly of the Cupra Raval and the Volkswagen ID Polo, the first 100% electric cars produced at the plant. The launch of production materializes the great efforts the factory has made to electrify: 300 million euros have been invested in the Catalan plant to set up a battery assembly factory, and, furthermore, one of the three production lines has also been adapted to be able to manufacture electric vehicles. In recent years, no 100% electric vehicles were manufactured in Catalonia, although one was produced until the Nissan plant in the Zona Franca of Barcelona closed, the Nissan e-NV200 van.

Seat has gone more than 7 years without presenting any new model, and its current range is limited to the Arona, Ibiza, and Leon, after having stopped manufacturing the Ateca and Tarraco SUVs, and previously having also canceled the continuity of the Alhambra minivan and the Mii urban electric, among others.During recent years, the financial and industrial efforts of the Volkswagen group have pivoted around the new Cupra brand, which has concentrated new models and electrified versions as a market consolidation strategy. The result of this industrial commitment has been clearly successful, as Cupra has become one of the commercial pillars of the Volkswagen group, but it has postponed electrification and the arrival of new models for Seat, the rational, practical, and more or less affordable brand of the group.A leadership in Spain difficult to give up

Despite having a very short commercial offer, Seat is capable of placing the Ibiza and Arona on the lists of best-selling cars in Spain every year, and of maintaining a good volume of sales in European markets such as the United Kingdom, Italy, France, Belgium or Germany, among others. In this regard, in the framework of an interview with the British medium Autocar, the new CEO of Seat, Markus Haupt, has confirmed that he will develop new mild hybrid or light hybrid versions of the Arona and Ibiza to reduce consumption and emissions of its models through a practical and simple approach, especially in a complicated horizon due to the tightening of European regulations on CO₂ emissions.What Seat will not yet have is an affordable urban electric car manufactured under the brand's logo. At the moment, the Volkswagen group prefers to bet on the Cupra Raval or Volkswagen ID Polo to generate a commercial margin that justifies the necessary investments to manufacture electric cars. Although these models are manufactured in Martorell, the group's management wants to wait a few more years before taking the step of electrifying the Seat brand. The costs of development and production of new vehicles, the production cost of batteries, and especially the scarce demand for electric cars in Seat's price segment and buyer profile would hardly justify a new electric vehicle with the Seat emblem.In this regard, the future of Seat is secured until 2029 or 2030, when, as Haupt himself points out, "the future of the brand will need to be evaluated" in the context of "a new scenario with the entry into force of new regulations affecting combustion vehicles". Until then, however, the CEO states that "Seat will continue to bet on the continuity of combustion models that are still commercially successful".Differentiation strategy with Cupra

Although Cupra was born as a sporty and aspirational appendix of Seat, the new CEO of the brand is clear: “We need to deepen the differentiation of Seat and Cupra”, to reinforce with the confirmation that “we will not see a Raval with the Seat logo”.Cupra's new strategy involves differentiating its product from Seat cars, and in this regard, we will never again see shared models with Seat and Cupra versions, as in the case of the Ateca or the Leon. “That was an intelligent and appropriate decision at the time –affirms Haupt–, but it is no longer useful if we want to consolidate Cupra's takeoff as a brand with a completely independent product portfolio, far from Seat.”

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Seat-Cupra has managed to turn around its results in the first quarter of this year. Despite a decrease in car sales and turnover, the company achieved an operating profit of 43 million euros, 38 million more than in the same period last year, as the company reported this Thursday.

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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.

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The day on the calendar is Thursday, April 9. Cupra will present the Raval model, the first 100% electric car designed and manufactured at the Seat plant in Martorell. It is the tangible result of a Volkswagen group plan to electrify mobility in Spain and which, despite presenting its first fruit, still holds many future uncertainties.

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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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Seat-Cupra achieved a turnover of 15,115 million euros in 2025, 5.1% more than the previous year and a record figure for the company. During the past year it sold 586,300 cars5% more than the previous year and also a record figure. But despite these good sales and revenue results, the company's net profit remained at only 40.9 million euros, whereas a year earlier it had exceeded 522 million euros.

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The Spanish brands Seat and Cupra, which belong to the German Volkswagen Group, saw their operating profit plummet to just one million euros in 2025, down from 633 million euros in 2024, a 99.8% decrease. This figure was revealed on Tuesday during the Volkswagen Group's results presentation, ahead of the detailed results for Seat and Cupra to be released on Thursday. The decline, as Seat already indicated in its third-quarter results presentation, is due to tariffs on the Cupra Tavascán model, which is manufactured in China, as well as higher product costs, despite an increase in sales volume. Seat and Cupra's revenue improved to 15.272 billion euros (+5.1% compared to 2024). And car sales for both brands rose last year to 657,000 units (+3.1% compared to 2014), figures that include the Audi A1 (manufactured in Martorell) and thanks to the success of Cupra models, especially the electric Born and Tavascán.

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First agreement between Brussels and an automotive company to circumvent tariffs on electric cars manufactured in China. The European Commission announced on Tuesday that it has reached an agreement with the Volkswagen Group to remove the 20.7% tariffs previously applied to the Cupra Tavascan model. These customs duties dealt a severe blow to Seat, and the profits of the Catalan-based company plummeted by more than 90% last year. As a result, Cupra Tavascan cars—designed in Catalonia but manufactured at the Chinese plant in Anhui—can now be imported throughout the European Union without tariffs. However, the import volumes and agreed minimum prices have not been made public for confidentiality reasons.

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Just seven years after being born as an independent brand, Cupra has made the overtaking in its parent brand, Seat, which has a 75-year history. The Cupra brand sold 328,800 cars in 2025, 32.5% more than the previous year's 248,100 units. Seat, meanwhile, sold 257,400 units, 17% less than the previous year. However, the combined sales of the two Seat group brands reached a record high: 586,300 cars sold, 5.1% more than in 2024, when sales were 558,200, surpassing the previous record of 574,000 units set in the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Seat and its owner, the German consortium Volkswagen (VW), have taken the latest step in the electrification of the Martorell factory, one of the hubs The most important industrial sector in Catalonia. The launch of the company's battery assembly plant represents the realization of a clear commitment to promoting sustainable mobility. The heart of vehicles is no longer the combustion engine, but the battery. With China's growing power in the market with hybrid and plug-in hybrid cars, European companies have had to accelerate their efforts to regain ground.

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The goal is set. After four years of transformation, next year The first electric cars manufactured at the Seat plant in Martorell will be released to the market.The company aims to reach a production capacity of 600,000 cars per year at this plant, half of which (300,000) will be electric. The first electric model to roll off the assembly line at this factory will be the Cupra Raval, which will go on sale starting in March of next year, followed by the Volkswagen ID. Polo. The final step in electrifying the plant was taken this Friday with the inauguration of the battery assembly plant, in which the company has invested €300 million. This investment is part of the factory's electrification plan. It has cost 3 billion euros, as part of the 10 billion euro package from Seat and the Volkswagen group in Spain. to manufacture electric cars. Seat has also led the Volkswagen Group in the electrification of its smaller and more popular models, which, in addition to the Cupra Raval and the Volkswagen ID. Polo, also includes the Skoda Epiq and the Volkswagen ID. Cross, which will be manufactured at the German group's plant in Landaben (Navarra).

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Jaume Puig's move to become director of the Catalan investment group GVC Gaesco and the changes at the top of Seat are the main executive moves among the business community this week, in which Caja de Ingenieros ratified a new term for its president, Félix Masjuan. Also noteworthy are the appointments at Eroski, Lorena Canals, and Culmia.

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The Ibiza and the Arona are Seat's two main commercial pillars. In fact, both models are already veterans in the market, with well-proven engines and technologies, and a price-to-quality ratio that explains their privileged position. The Ibiza and Arona facelift is purely cosmetic, as it doesn't represent a radical change or completely different models from what existed until now. In fact, the changes are limited to an updated body design (especially the grille and headlights), more refined interiors thanks to the use of new materials, and the use of the familiar gasoline engines, with power outputs between 80 and 150 hp.

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Sales at Seat – with its two brands, Seat and Cupra – continued to grow during the first nine months of this year, but both profitability and profits plummeted, according to data released by the Martorell-based automaker. Sales increased by 4.1 percent year-on-year in the first nine months, reaching 439,500 vehicles, and the company's revenue grew by 6.9 percent to €11.2 billion. Despite this growth, the company's operating profit plummeted by 96.2 percent, settling at just €16 million. Furthermore, the return on sales was a meager 0.1 percent, 3.8 percentage points lower than in the same period of the previous year. This profitability decline occurred even though the Cupra brand, which offers a higher profit margin than Seat, contributed more significantly to the increase in car sales. In fact, Cupra grew by 37%, reaching a record 245,300 units, while deliveries for the Seat brand fell by 20.1% to 194,200 units.

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Metalworkers in the Barcelona area again blocked several roads this morning in protest against the breakdown of negotiations with employers regarding a new collective agreement. The C-25 highway between Sant Fruitós de Bages and Sallent is closed due to a demonstration in both directions, causing a kilometer-long traffic jam, according to the Catalan Traffic Service (SCT). There were also blockades due to protests on the Cornellà and Hospitalet de Llobregat exits of the C-32 highway in both directions, and on exit 18B of the Ronda Litoral ring road in Marbarna, heading towards Besòs. This is the second consecutive morning that the metal sector has organized blockades as part of the two-day strike called in response to the conflict with employers. On Wednesday, workers already blocked some of the main access routes to Barcelona, ​​such as the ring roads, causing long traffic jams. They also blocked access to industrial parks in the Baix Llobregat and Vallès Oriental and Occidental regions. "The strike has been a success. The largest companies and industrial parks have been paralyzed," union sources explained to ARA. The protest was also observed on Monday at plants such as the Ebro automotive plant in the Zona Franca and the Ficosa plant in Viladecavalls, and the same sources confirmed that it was also noticeable at the Seat facilities in Martorell. Workers in the metal sector—nearly 200,000 employees were called to participate in the strike—also protested in front of the Foment de Treball headquarters on Via Laietana in Barcelona to pressure for improvements to their collective bargaining agreement. Wages in accordance with the CPI

One of the main points of contention between unions and employers in reaching an agreement is wages. Employers—through the Metalworkers' Union (UPM)—are proposing a 3% wage increase this year, 2.75% in 2026, and 2.5% in 2027. In contrast, workers' representatives believe the increases should be 3.9% this year, followed by 3% in 2027. "Their proposals, focused on compensation and wage absorption, cut acquired rights and block necessary improvements for all workers in the sector," says the UGT union. Beyond ensuring that wages are linked to the Consumer Price Index (CPI), the unions also want to prevent the elimination of paid leave and the denial of reduced working hours to some employees. "This attitude is unacceptable, especially in a context of strong business results," they argue. UPM maintains that its latest proposal is "balanced" and should have been enough to call off this week's strike.

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After the surprise announcement on March 31 that Wayne Griffiths, the former CEO and face of Seat and Cupra, was leaving, the company finally officially has a new CEO for both brands. Likewise, the Infrastructure Advisory Council of Catalonia has welcomed a new president, and the Catalan footwear company Munich has hired a new general manager.

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The Seat plant in Martorell played a more prominent role than ever before in the Volkswagen Group's presentation at the IAA Mobility, the Munich motor show. The event, attended by top representatives of the German consortium—including the German consortium's chief executive, Oliver Blume—began with the world premiere of the first two electric models to be manufactured in Baix Llobregat: the Cupra Raval and the Volkswagen ID Polo. This was followed by the presentation of cars from other group brands, such as those to be produced at the Volkswagen plant in Landaben (Navarra), two electric models also based on the group's compact urban platform: the Volkswagen ID Cross and the Skoda Epiq.

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Seat doesn't yet have any affordable electric models in its commercial portfolio, and the Volkswagen Group's roadmap doesn't foresee any, at least in the near future. It's true that Seat did have an electric version of the Mii between 2019 and 2022. It was an affordable urban vehicle with 82 hp and a range of 260 kilometers, manufactured at the Slovak plant in Bratislava, but it was a virtual copy of the Volkswagen Up! and the Skoda Citigo. It happened in history without much fanfare and with very modest sales figures.

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