SEAT May Not Be Dead After All

We all thought SEAT was dead, at least when it comes to being a car manufacturer with it supposedly being spun off into the VW Group’s arm of ‘mobility solutions’, building electric scooters and other things in that realm. However, that may not be the case - and there could be a new EV in the works.

Speaking with Auto Express, Marcus Gossen, SEAT and Cupra UK’s brand director has hinted something could be on the way soon. He said: “SEAT has to be accessible; it should be the entry-level to the group. We have exciting news coming for SEAT.”

At the back end of last year, Thomas Schafer, Volkswagen’s chief executive officer, confirmed a sub-€20,000 EV was in the works when speaking with The Telegraph, adding: “It’s an entry-level car so this is like the Champions League of car building. If you want to win, you have to make money on it and that’s the difficult bit, although it’s fine if you are a charity.”

Presumably, that’ll be sold as a Volkswagen and more than likely as an ID1 as part of its electric sub-brand. However, he has said the technology needs to be shared across other brands to make it viable, as happened with Volkswagen Up, Seat Mii and Skoda Citigo. It’s very likely the same could happen again here.

It’ll still be a way off, though, with Schafer stating: “We don’t have an official project seeking approval that will lead to a vehicle in the next three years, but we are almost there.”

It’s unlikely SEAT will do a full U-turn on the VW Group brand strategy of siphoning its core models into the Cupra brand, with reportedly no plans for any additional models beyond the potential small EV. In contrast, the Cupra line-up is set to gain the Tavascan and Terramar  SUVs sometime this year.