Seat will spend EUR430m a year over the next decade on product development as it seeks to strengthen its brand image.
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The investment follows the recent revamp of the Volkswagen-owned Spanish manufacturer’s management both in the UK and globally with the main board now headed by former Audi board member Eric Schmitt and including design director Luke Donckerwolke, formerly in a similar position at Lamborghini.
One of Donckerwolke’s first Seat products will be a new European D-segment car, launching by 2009, and giving the company a much stronger fleet contender against the likes of the Peugeot 407 and Toyota Avensis.
According to UK director Peter Wyhinny, himself in the post for only a year, the product drive follows a period when Seat’s brand message was unclear.
“We’ve had some meandering, shall we say, of the interpretations of our brand values in recent products but it’s up to us now to get that clarity of message and purpose into the marketplace,” he said.
Wyhinny told just-auto that Seat would develop its brand as design-driven, lively and sporty. “We’re not going to suddenly spring upon you a crop of coupes, race cars and sports cars – we see ourselves as a volume player across a wide range of sectors.
“However, whichever we choose to compete in, we are at the sporty, design-driven, lively end of that segment – the type of engines we choose, the transmissions, the suspension tuning, the exterior imagery. We are an alternative to the mainstream.”
Wyhinny said Seat is enjoying record sales in the UK after an “up and down” period. “We had good sales and market growth until 2003, then the next couple of years reflected both the market shrinking and where Seat was in its product cycle – we had the run-out of old Leon, then new Leon came in later than expected and at a slower pace than expected – only in March this year did we complete the roll-out of the derivatives with the launch of the Cupra.”
Seat UK ended 2006 15% ahead of its previous year’s results, with a record share though with lower volume in a smaller market. This growth has continued into 2007, with April sales 7.5% ahead of 2006, and the company’s best-ever first quarter in both volume and share.
Wyhinny expects this growth to continue, particularly as Seat is investing heavily in both growing its dealer network and a new emphasis on the fleet market.
Andrew Charman
