Seat had a tough year in the past year due to the corona pandemic. Total sales fell by 25.6 percent to 427,000 cars in the past year. Nevertheless, according to Seat, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
A sales dip of more than 147,000 cars can be called quite significant. The brand suffered particularly in Spain and the United Kingdom, two major markets for Seat. The sales decline in those two countries was 32.1 and 33.8 percent respectively. Germany is Seat’s largest sales market with a total sale of 109,500 cars, but there too the brand recorded a sales decrease of 17.4 percent. In the Netherlands, 9,151 seats found their way to a new owner in the past year, 15.8 percent less than in 2019.
The sales topper for Seat was the Leon with 111,900 copies. The Arona comes in second with 91,600 cars sold and the Ibiza is the last of the podium with 81,600 cars. It is not all doom and gloom at Seat, by the way. Cupra, the sporty sub-brand, saw its sales total increase by 11 percent in 2020 to 27,400 cars. Undoubtedly, the wider availability of models plays a role in this. The Leon also performs best at Cupra (13,300 copies), the Ateca follows with 10,500 copies. Of the Formentor, the first model specifically intended for Cupra, 3,600 copies were delivered at the end of last year.
Hybrid party
In 2021, Cupra will add the el-Born to the line-up, an EV based on the Volkswagen ID3. Furthermore, at Seat, the plug-in hybrid variants of the Leon and Tarraco should contribute to a further increase in sales numbers. In addition, Seat will present a facelift for the Ibiza and the Arona. All in all, there is plenty to look forward to, but Seat has a lot to make up for in 2021.