Volkswagen decides to shut down one of its car brands
A large-scale reorganization at Volkswagen will lead to the disappearance of the Spanish brand Seat.
It will become the first long-established car company to leave the market since the beginning of the 2010s, Reuters writes.
Incidentally, back then Ford shut down Mercury, General Motors abandoned Saturn and Pontiac, and Saab went bankrupt. Such closures are rare in an industry where well-known brands live for decades. This kind of development confirms the readiness of the automotive group's CEO, Oliver Blume, to streamline the operations of the sprawling German automaker by channeling investment into more successful brands. Seat is currently not among them.
The company stated that Seat's future "beyond the current product life cycle is still being evaluated." It also added that "various scenarios are possible after 2030." A well-informed source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Seat's fast-growing subsidiary brand Cupra, which is switching to electric vehicles, will receive all future models as Seat cars with internal combustion engines are phased out of production.
Seat was founded in Spain in 1950 as a state-owned enterprise. In 1986 it was bought by Volkswagen as a budget brand for its growing automotive empire. But since 2020 Seat has not released any new models, and that is too long a break for an industry where new products are critically important for survival. The Barcelona-based brand accounted for less than 3 percent of Volkswagen's global deliveries in 2025. Meanwhile, the related sports brand Cupra, launched in 2018, last year surpassed Seat in annual sales for the first time.
Cupra offers three fully electric models, including the new Raval. Seat-Cupra CEO Markus Haupt called it revolutionary in May. Seat has no fully electric models, and none are planned.
Source: Lenta.ru
