Remember the rumours about VW selling Seat to the Chinese?
According to senior company sources it was never quite that bad. But bad enough, mainly through appalling product planning. How's this for an example? The original Toledo was good for around 140,000 sales a year. The current (ugly) one is doing less than 15,000 apparently. Which probably means four figures.
That said, despite the Spanish market being in a worse state that ours, the future looks a lot brighter for Seat now. Erich Schmidt the charismatic boss has turned it around.
Using the old A4 as the basis for the new Exeo was his audacious idea and it looks like paying off at home. Schmidt is also now dead set on making Seat a big player in South America, where the cultural connections mean that buyers in Mexico and Brazil get the brand.
Schmidt also wants to start building cars there, probably an Ibiza saloon and a bigger four-door based on the new US-market VW (pictured below).
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Casanova
re: Seat's turnaround
Seat should pull their fingers out and build the Tango concept. Ibiza mechanicals, no frills, light weight, good looks, fabric roof, £12k. I give this advice for free you know.
Anonymous
re: Seat's turnaround
Exeo goes on sale 2 April with both saloon and estate bodystyles. But the latter will probably take a little longer to appear in the showrooms.
coolGav
re: Seat's turnaround
Any ideas when the Exeo will hit UK shores?
TegTypeR
re: Seat's turnaround
I've never worked out why SEAT have never capitalised on their Latin connections is South America more in the past. At last though someone has realised.
I also wonder what new SEAT models we will see as a consequence. A new Arosa, a budget Ibiza???
It's all about the twisties........
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