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 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 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 inflationary spiral of diesel and gasoline prices due to political instability in the Middle East has led to significant growth in electric car sales in recent months in Europe. Products like the Raval Plus only confirm this trend, as manufacturers offer mature, serious, technological, and very practical models, with correct power and considerable ranges, at increasingly attractive prices, such as the €29,530 that Cupra is asking for the new Raval Plus, which becomes less than €25,000 if the Auto+ plan aid is added, and which could be significantly lower depending on the brand's commercial promotions.The new Cupra Raval Plus uses a 135 HP electric motor powered by an LFP battery with a capacity of 38.5 kWh, which allows it to achieve an approved range of 328 kilometers, more than enough for a youthful model with an urban focus. Furthermore, this Raval Plus can be charged at a direct current point of up to 88 kW of power, allowing the battery to be recharged from 10% to 80% in just 23 minutes.

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.

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-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.

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.

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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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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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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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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Although Seat, Cupra's parent company, has been manufacturing its cars in Catalonia for 75 years, it had never before included the Catalan language option among those available for operating the infotainment system and other vehicle features. Albert Cuesta, a technologist and contributor to ARA, He had been battling there for almost a decade.Internal sources from the brand They had told him, after commissioning a study, Despite being a technologically possible option, the Volkswagen group's decision was to offer only infotainment options in the official languages of the main European markets, even though some of these languages had fewer speakers than Catalan.

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The Cupra Raval will be one of the most important cars of 2026, and the Baix Llobregat-based brand has already confirmed the price of the entry-level version of its electric model, which will be the cheapest in the Cupra lineup. The Raval shares the electric platform debuted by the Volkswagen ID. Polo, which will also be manufactured in Martorell, but unlike the latter, it will have a slightly sportier setup (15 millimeters lower body, stiffer suspension, electronic differential on the front wheels, and more responsive steering) that should justify its aspirational price.

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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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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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Few could have imagined the huge success of Cupra when, in 2018, this high-performance subsidiary broke away from Seat to become an aspirational brand, barely positioned in the market segment between mainstream and premium manufacturers, becoming the youthful entry-level brand to the sports cars of Audi or Porsche. Seven years later, and despite the shocks caused by the pandemic, the semiconductor crisis, geostrategic problems in Ukraine and Palestine, and rising raw material prices, Cupra celebrates the rollout of its one millionth model from the Martorell plant, becoming one of the most successful and fastest-growing European brands of recent years.

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