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'SEAT' () is a Spanish automobile manufacturer founded in 1950 with Fiat assistance, and now subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group. The acronym "SEAT" stood for ''Sociedad Española de Automóviles de Turismo'' (Spanish Society of Touring Cars).
Today, SEAT reinforces its race-bred and aggressive image with sporty cars such as Ibiza and León, which have made the brand very popular among teenagers.
Initially, SEAT manufactured rebadged Fiat models that differed very little visually from the products of the Italian parent. The SEAT Panda (later restyled as SEAT Marbella) for example was based on the Fiat Panda. The SEAT 600, based on Fiat 600, was the first car for many Spanish families, and became a symbol of the Spanish Miracle.
The first car under the new SEAT logo without Fiat involvement appeared in 1982, and was called the SEAT Ronda. This was a restyled Fiat Ritmo, and sparked a lawsuit from Fiat against SEAT, as the former claimed the car was still too similar to the Ritmo. The then president of SEAT, Juan Miguel Antoñanzas, showed a Ronda to the press with all the parts different from the Fiat Ritmo painted in bright yellow, to highlight the differences. This ended the dispute. Rumour at the time had it that Fiat was angry because the Ronda restyling was in fact too close to their own planned restyling for the Fiat Ritmo, which they had to scrap.
After the withdrawal of Fiat in 1981, the Volkswagen Group signed a cooperation agreement with SEAT, becoming the major shareholder in 1986, and owner of 100% of the company in 1990.

Contents

Facilities

Presence in different markets

Popular culture

Model range

Earlier models

Current models

Concept models

External links

Facilities

SEAT has its manufacturing plant in Martorell, an industrial city near Barcelona. The Martorell plant is one of the newest in Europe. Each year more than 450,000 cars are manufactured in this plant. Seat's headquarters have been recently moved also from Barcelona to Martorell.
SEAT has its own sales and distribution facilities in 50 countries. The number of employees is 14,500. Additionally, 1,250 people work in the research and development center in Martorell.

Presence in different markets

The company develops and designs its own models of cars in accordance with the policies of the Volkswagen Group. Some of its cars have been sold outside Europe as Volkswagens, such as the SEAT Ibiza hatchback, known in South Africa as the Volkswagen Polo Playa, the SEAT Inca panel van as the Volkswagen Caddy, or the SEAT Córdoba also known as the Volkswagen Polo Classic.
Rumors of a SEAT model being sold as a Volkswagen in Canada and the United States to supplement the VW brand's lineup there have occasionally circulated, but have always been unsubstantiated and ultimately proven to be false. SEAT markets 6 models in Mexico, and has dealer presence in 27 Mexican states [1]. SEAT's entry into the Mexican but not other North American markets is likely due to less restrictive safety and emissions in Mexico.
SEAT's presence in international markets (outside of Europe) has yet to be realised with the failed plan to launch SEAT in Canada in 1994 and with the withdrawing of SEAT from the Australian market after only selling its range from 1995-1999. SEAT is also positioned to launch in the United States sometime after 2008, although this has yet to be verified as a certainty. SEAT currently continues to expand to international markets under Volkswagen's wings, particularly in the Middle East and Asia.tyu

Popular culture

In Spain people joke about the car translating its letters as ''Siempre Estamos Apretando Tornillos'', which literally means "We Are Always Tightening Screws", implying that the cars need to be fixed often. This was more appropriate in the pre-1990 era before the Volkswagen-inspired revolution, but many subsequent motoring surveys have rated SEATs among the most satisfying cars to own.
Lara Croft has been used to advertise for SEAT, where she changes vehicles in the way she changed items. The cars were a yellow SEAT Córdoba Vario with matching Jet ski (to escape from a ''Tyrannosaurus rex'', a green SEAT Arosa (to escape armed bikers), a red SEAT Ibiza Mk 1 (to jump a destroyed bridge), and an aqua SEAT Alhambra (to pick up six hitch-hiking surfers).

Model range

Earlier models

★ SEAT 600/800 ★ SEAT 850 ★ SEAT 1200 Sport ★ SEAT 1400 ★ SEAT 1430 ★ SEAT 1500 ★ SEAT 124 ★ SEAT 127 ★ SEAT 128 ★ SEAT 131 ★ SEAT 132 ★ SEAT 133

★ SEAT Fura ★ SEAT Panda ★ SEAT Ritmo ★ SEAT Ronda ★ SEAT Terra ★ SEAT Inca ★ SEAT Málaga ★ SEAT Marbella ★ SEAT Arosa

Current models

Current models are named after Spanish placenames.

★ SEAT León TDi WTCC

★ SEAT Ibiza

★ SEAT Cordoba

★ SEAT Leon

★ SEAT Altea

★ SEAT Altea XL

★ SEAT Altea freetrack

★ SEAT Toledo

★ SEAT Alhambra

Concept models

★ SEAT Cupra GT

★ SEAT Formula

★ SEAT Salsa

★ SEAT Tango

★ SEAT Altea Freetrack Prototype

External links

★ SEAT web site

★ Seat Club - Denmark

★ seat-ibiza-mk4.co.uk Seat Ibiza (2002-) information site

★ SEATClub Hungarian Seat Club site

★ SEAT Cars Randburg - South Africa

★ Australian SEAT Forum

★ Seat Forum - UK Seat Forum

★ SEATCupra.net

★ SEAT Mexico

★ SEAT Forum