- Founded on 9 May 1950, SEAT is celebrating 70 years of mobility
- Production began in 1953 with 925 employees and a rate of 5 cars per day
- SEAT’s first overseas export was to Columbia in 1965, now Spain’s number one exporter
- More than 19 million vehicles built and sold to date across 67 models
- SEAT’s first export to the UK in September 1985 – a two vehicle line-up, Ibiza Mk1 and Malaga
- First year sales of 405 units to 68,800 vehicles in 2019
- The brand is ready for a future shaped by electrification, digitalisation and new urban mobility
It’s been 70 years since SEAT was founded on 9 May 1950, the company that helped democratise mobility in Spain and beyond.
Over the past seven decades, SEAT has undergone a profound transformation and demonstrated a constant capacity for reinvention, which has enabled it to remain a benchmark throughout its history.
Formally established on 9 May 1950 after an agreement was signed between the National Institute of Industry, with 51% of the share capital (600 million pesetas, which today would be €3.6 million); seven large Spanish banks (42%) and the Italian manufacturer Fiat (7%), which provided technical advice and the production licence for its models.
When originally created, the company’s name was Sociedad Espańola de Automóviles de Turismo, S.A., but was officially changed to SEAT in the 1990s.
When production began in 1953, just 925 people worked on the line. Today, SEAT employs more than 15,000 people as well as generating more than 100,000 direct and indirect jobs within the supply chain.
To date, a total of more than 19 million SEAT vehicles have been built and sold, and more than 72,000 people have been employed by SEAT. The Ibiza (5.8 million sold) is the most popular SEAT of all time, followed by the Leon (2.3 million), 127 (1.2 million), Cordoba (1.03 million) and the Toledo (1.01 million).
Since the company made its first export sale in 1965, SEAT has established itself as Spain’s leading industrial exporter, accounting for almost three per cent of the country’s economic exports. Today, SEAT vehicles reach countries as far as New Zealand, Mexico and French Guiana.
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