Magazine Frontrunners in the MOBILITY of the FUTURE WE WELCOME the ARRIVAL of INDUSTRY 4.0 BARCELONA INSPIRES US Future Is Going Longer for Less Today
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2018 SEATMaGazine Frontrunners In tHe MoBILItY OF THe FUTURe We WeLCoMe tHe ARRIVAL OF INDUSTRY 4.0 BArCeLONA INSPiReS US Future is going longer for less today. Not in 2049. TGI by SEAT. In the days to come, tomorrow for example, you’ll be able to go further and only stop for what really matters. Thanks to SEAT’s TGI technology, by combining natural gas and petrol, you can be kind to nature. And your pocket. seat.com/futuretoday MAG SEAT 03 AN EXCEPTIONAL YEAR 2017 was an exceptional year for SEAT. The 468,431 customers who chose our brand allowed us to achieve the best sales result since 2001 and one of the best in our history. 2017 was our fifth consecutive year of growth and we also became one of the fastest growing brands in Europe. A large part of this success lies in the great product SEAT offensive which began in 2016 with the launch of our first SUV, the Ateca, and which continued last year with the fifth generation of the Ibiza, the facelift of the Leon and the new Arona crossover. This success in sales has also had a positive impact on our financial results during 2017, which we closed with a profit after tax before extraordinary items of 281 million euros, 21.3% higher than in 2016. SEAT intends to continue its product offensive in 2018 with the launch of the Tarraco, the brand’s third SUV, and we will also release the Compressed Natural Gas version of the “We are committed to the mobility of the future” In the next few years, our cars will offer an our participation in the Mobile World Arona, which will join SEAT’s current CNG easy, connected and personalised experi- Congress and the opening of the SEAT range consisting of the Mii, the Ibiza and the ence. All this will be possible thanks to our Metropolis:Lab Barcelona, a research Leon. In short, we are ready to keep growing. commitment to Industry 4.0, a revolution that laboratory created with the aim of finding In the magazine you are holding in your is already underway and which we are solutions to the challenges facing the hands, we explain how the great product constantly preparing for by acquiring more connected car and making SEAT a frontrun- offensive we have launched is leading us to and better technology and by training our ner in this new field. Other distinctive projects become a more global brand, as well as employees. This is a commitment which has that make us unique include our solar power setting out our plans regarding CUPRA. accompanied us ever since our beginnings, plant, the largest in the automotive industry; Another matter you will be able to read as demonstrated by the more than 60 years our Healthcare and Rehabilitation Centre about is how we are working on the digitali- of the Apprentice School, the more than 40 (CARS), and the new Casa SEAT space, sation of our company in order to become a years of the Technical Centre, a true hub of which we will open next year in the centre of leader in connectivity within the automotive knowledge, and the 10 years of the Proto- Barcelona as a demonstration of our sector. We will also explain how we are type Centre, which is the only one of its kind commitment to this city. innovating to grow beyond the traditional car in Spain and forms the link between R&D and sector, with various initiatives such as the Production. Enjoy the read! creation of XMOBA to identify and invest in However, SEAT is much more than that. business models related to the mobility of We are a company that is committed to the Christian Stein the future. mobility of the future, as demonstrated by SEAT Global Communications Director 004 MAGAZINE SEAT 2018 SEATMAGAZINE 06 GLOBAL BRAND 42 A frontrunner in Europe FACE TO FACE 70 Dr. Such and Dr. Clotet 08 SUV revolution Industry 4.0. 44 Welcome to the smart 72 CARS, a pioneering centre 1 2 The birth of CUPRA factory The team, a reflection 14 The great exporter INTERVIEW 74 of the SEAT values 46 Francisco Requena International growth: from 80 Commitment to training 17 North Africa to Oceania The most sustainable and 48 eco-efficient factory INTERVIEW 82 Dr. Laura Carnicero FUTURE TODAY Continuously improving 20 50 The guardians 22 Ready to connect 52 The seed of success 84 of tradition INTERVIEW 54 The hub of knowledge 26 Xplora 86 BARCELONA 58 A decade of innovation A unique buying 88 Commitment to Barcelona 28 experience 62 SURPRISING SEAT Casa SEAT, the brand’s 30 SEAT promotes gas 92 tribute to the city Laboratory for 64 urban mobility Promoting excellence 36 INNOVATION 94 and talent Health, the engine Martorell: the heart of 68 that drives us What do you know 38 SEAT marks 25 years 96 about SEAT? MAGAZINEMAG SEAT 00505 Global B RanD The biggest product SALES offensive ever seen in SEAT, GROWTH together with the broadening of commercial horizons 14.6% across all five continents, IN 2017 1% 3% has led to one of the best 468,431 results in the brand’s history, CARS SOLD upholding its position as the of spanish OF SPANISH biggest exporting company GDP EXPORTS in Spanish industry and one of the most important firms € 9,552 € 7,746 in the world. MILLION IN REVENUE MILLION IN EXPORTS 06006 MAGMAGAZINE SEAT SEAT Global B RanD MAG SEAT 07 GLOBAL BRAND SUV REVOLUTION SEAT is in the midst of the biggest product offensive in its history. It began in 2016 with the arrival of the Ateca and continued last year with the restyling of the Leon, the fifth generation of the Ibiza and the new Arona, which gener- ated the highest sales since 2001 for the brand and in- creased its market coverage up to nearly 75%. Testament to its good performance are the more than 50 internation- al awards it has received. 008 MAGAZINE SEAT GLOBAL BRAND he most intensive product offensive SEAT’s independent sports brand which will ever carried out by SEAT kicked off launch its first model at the end of this year, the with the brand’s entry into a new CUPRA Ateca. segment, namely that of the com- In the words of Luca de Meo, President of pact SUV. With the launch of the SEAT, “with our biggest product offensive, when TAteca in 2016, the brand’s expansion into the the SEAT Tarraco reaches the market, SEAT will SUV category began and new opportunities have released a new vehicle every six months opened up for SEAT in a segment which has ex- on average in two and a half years. In 2017, perienced non-stop growth in recent years. The SEAT allocated more than 900 million euros to brand itself has not stopped growing either, R&D investment and expenses, which makes up since the arrival of the Ateca was at the end of part of the total investment of 3,300 million eu- 2017 was backed up by that of the new com- ros for the period 2015-2019”. pact crossover, the Arona. Yet this was by no means the only novelty to come out of last year. POSITIVE RESULTS The restyled version of the Leon was released, AND INTERNATIONAL AWARDS braking a new sales record and becoming the This product offensive has been accompanied brand’s best-selling model, and the Ibiza was by a number of prizes received in various Euro- fully renovated, now in its fifth generation. pean countries, as well as a gradual increase in sales representing a 14.6% growth in vehicle THE BIGGEST PRODUCT OFFENSIVE deliveries in 2017 compared to the prior year. Thanks to this major offensive of new releases, With total sales of 468,431 units worldwide, al- the brand’s market coverage has risen signifi- most 60,000 more units were sold in 2017 than cantly, reaching 75%. This figure will increase in 2016. As such, not only did 2017 give rise to even more with the arrival of the big brother of SEAT’s best results since 2001, but it was one of the SUV family, the SEAT Tarraco, scheduled for the best years in the company’s history. SEAT the end of 2018. This new model, which will be remains one of the fastest growing brands in the culmination of the SUV revolution and will Europe and between 2012 and 2017, its sales offer as many as seven seats, will be designed have not stopped growing, increasing by and developed in Barcelona and will be manu- 45.9%. Furthermore, over the last 12 months the factured in the Wolfsburg factory in Germany. company has received more than 50 interna- SEAT’s range of products has grown with the new SUV family, with the Ateca Special mention should be made of CUPRA, tional awards, highlighting the firm’s current and the Arona being its first members. which has now acquired its own personality as performance. As SEAT’s vice-president of sales MAGAZINE SEAT 009 GLOBAL BRAND SEAT has become one of the fastest growing brands in Europe and it is ready to and marketing, Wayne Griffiths, has highlighted continue increasing its sales when referring to these great results, “not only volume. It has a renovated have we achieved the highest results since the product range and in 2018, year 2001, but we have become one of the the full impact of the Arona fastest growing brands in Europe and we are will be seen in sales, which ready to continue increasing our sales volume.