We left behind a very complicated year. However, Seat has been able to show its best face in the darkest and hardest moments of this pandemic. The Spanish manufacturer had to celebrate its 70th anniversary for everything great but, because of the covid, it had to modify its plans and move forward. A path that, despite the difficulties, has not been bad at all. This 2020 has marked a before and after in its electrification process, with the appearance of the Seat Mii Electric and the PHEV variants of the León, the Tarraco and the Cupra León. This album, which was presented at the end of February, has brought pleasant surprises to the firm. The last one very recently and it is the appointment of the Seat León as Best Buy Car in Europe 2021, delivered in the Autobest 2021 .
The Autobest awards arise from the vote of a jury, which is made up of 31 journalists specializing in the automobile from different countries of the old continent. The award is one of the most prestigious in Europe and has been held since 2001, with the necessary in-depth proof of these journalists. They have been the ones who have evaluated the Seat León as the best of the finalists due to the evolution of key aspects such as dynamics, safety, efficiency and connectivity, a fundamental pillar for the firm. For this they have taken into account the importance of a car with more than 2.3 million units sold throughout its history and that, despite these good results, has not been satisfied. For the creation of this fourth generation, Seat has invested 1.1 million euros in the development of a versatile, safe and efficient range, available with six types of propulsion: gasoline (TSI), diesel (TDI), compressed natural gas (TGI). ), micro-hybrid (eTSI) and plug-in hybrid (e-HYBRID) .
A successful 2020
As we said at the beginning, this 2020 has been more like a long-distance race than life itself. Seat has not let the environment dictate its path and, after much effort, they can be proud to sign a year of good news. The first of them is the celebration of its 70th anniversary with the announcement in Casa Seat, the HUB located in the center of Barcelona, of the investment of 5,000 million by the Volkswagen company. This confidence is not blind, it comes after the good results and the right decisions of the Spanish firm. A resolution that has served to guide the way towards electrification with the Mii and the PHEV variants, the launch of the Cupra Formentor as the first 100% Cupra model and the appearance of Seat Mó as its urban mobility brand, with its first eScooter and motosharing service.
These are the most relevant news of the past 2020 but there are many more. We cannot ignore the presentation of the Cupra el-Born , the first 100% electric model built on the MEB platform of the German group. His arrival is expected in the second half of 2021 and we will be here to continue reporting. Nor have they been quiet when it comes to architecture, creating spaces like the Cupra Garage or Casa Seat.
Successful changes and sales
The appointment of Wayne Griffiths as president of Seat and Cupra came to reinforce the idea of placing someone powerful and knowledgeable of the brands as a leader. New additions to the management have also been presented, with Dr. Werner Tietz as SEAT’s Executive Vice President for Research and Development and Herbert Steiner, Vice President for Production and Logistics, appointed in November. These additions, together with other strategic movements, have made possible the appearance of SEAT: CODE, a center in which everything that has to do with software is developed. For example, they have launched the first multimodal mobility platform on which their motosharing service can operate, but also many others, from different companies.
Either because of these changes, or because of the affection that buyers have for Seat, the firm has signed the third consecutive year as the reference in passenger cars and SUV’s. After the registration of 69,731 units, Seat is the best-selling brand in Spain with a market share of 8.1%. The Seat León has been the best-selling compact with a total of 23,582 units . The Arona finished in sixth position (15,365 units) and the Ateca was tenth (14,139 units). The Seat Mii has managed to close 2020 in seventh position of electric models , a not inconsiderable data considering that it was launched at the beginning.
