Seat has been in Norway before. Why did the brand disappear from new car shops? Can the brand be resurrected here at home? Do the cars have a chance?
Inside the huge Seat plant in Martorell outside Barcelona, the welding robots go full throttle to produce new cars. Not only new Seaters, but also Audis are coming out. It is not talked about very loudly, but here in the Catalan part of Spain, everything is going smoothly. The unemployment that has affected the rest of Spain does not exist here.
Seat is the fourth of five car brands in the Volkswagen Group (VAG). The others are Audi, Volkswagen and Skoda in descending order of prestige. I have never been clear as to whether Skoda is more prestigious than Seat. To me, they stand evenly and differ from each other in design. The fifth car brand is none other than Lamborghini! According to German motoring press, Lamborghini was saved at the last minute by German Audi engineers.
Cannibalism?
In 2006, Seat disappeared from car dealerships in Norway due to poor profitability. Seat was sold through a Møller-owned dealer network. What Møller knows is that when Seat is removed from the market, many customers will go to Skoda or Volkswagen instead. I imagine few customers will go to, say, Opel if they're looking for Seat. They will very likely buy another car model from the same group. If Seat's demise results in the same customers going to another, already established Møller-owned dealer, it would not be economically profitable for Møller to sell Seat.
Wrong target group and weird design
Some might think that Spanish-made cars are for young and hip people. Very stupid, when young people rarely have money to buy a new car, and hip people stick to prestige cars. Seat is simply a car for the "everyman" and the average family, - sensible people who think Toyota is OK but a bit boring. It sells on "value for money". The foursome, Spanish must by all means never be emphasized in a car advertisement! Did you know that the Seat factory supplies the whole world with the Audi Q3? Would Audi ever sell the Q3 as "Spanish and foursome"? I think not.
In the mid-2000s, all the Seats got a new design language, which is partly still alive. Responsible for the design was Walter de Silva, a genius-explained and high-profile car designer in the Volkswagen group. He has designed many fine cars, but the Seats were an unfortunate project for him Silva. Curved lines that criss-crossed and ended up in the middle of the car - like fluttering gloves along the car. It didn't turn out well. Nice cars should have lines that flow along the direction of travel and all main lines should preferably end together at the rear edge (shutlines).
But now then? The design is fresh and the technology is state-of-the-art. After driving a brand new Seat Leon with the brand new TDI common rail engine of 110 horses, I have no doubts: This is a car I could live with and drive hundreds of thousands of kilometers in. Even if it does not differ significantly from others cars on the market, it is a car of which there are not many on the road. Let's call it sensible individualism.
Lately, I've had the opportunity to spend quite a bit of time in Catalonia, the region that makes Seat. Why are there so few Seaters on the road? Without having done any serious counting, I think there are more Volkswagen Polos on the roads around Barcelona than there are Seat Ibizas. Both models are produced in Spain, respectively Pamplona and Barcelona. The taxi ranks at Sant's main station are filled with Skoda Octavias! The number of Seat Toledos can be counted on one hand. Do the Catalans really prefer Volkswagen and Skoda to their own heirloom silver? Maybe the Seat factory can't produce enough Seaters? Perhaps the group management has decided that the production lines should be filled up with other brands?
There is a danger that the Volkswagen group chooses the same solution as Møller did here at home. If Seat were to disappear, where would the customers go? Where they already go, of course! For Skoda and Volkswagen. Why then spend money on Seat?
If the Volkswagen group chooses to support Seat, I have faith that the brand will survive.
New Toledo and outgoing Altea have no future in Norway. Leon, on the other hand, is a very good model. In a campaign, well-equipped Leons can be styled and sold as Audi A3 lookalikes at Golf prices. The station wagon version has more space than the A3 Sportsback. In terms of quality, it is probably better than the Golf station wagon, which is produced in Mexico. On car review websites, it is no secret that owners of Mexican Golfs experience far worse quality than owners of European Golfs. The Ibiza is built on the same platform as the Polo, A1 and Fabia. It is available in a great station wagon version, too.
I like Seat because it increases the diversity on the road. It makes the traffic picture more pleasant.
See
Look and feel
Comfort
The space conditions in the front and back are good. The luggage compartment of 380 liters is in the middle of the tree in this class. It is too small for families with children, but Leon has come with a station wagon - and it will probably be able to cover the space needs of ordinary families. Fortunately, the station wagon (ST) has emphasized design rather than load characteristics.
