The Spanish automobile company Seat achieved in 2022 a turnover of 10,514 million euros in 2022, which represents an increase of 14% compared to 2021, in what is the second best result in sales volume in the firm’s 73-year history. Operating profit increased by €550 million to €179 million (2021: -371 million), before €293 million of extraordinary restructuring costs, provisioned to undertake 1,300 early retirements until 2026.
The figures represent an improvement on Operating margin of 5.7 percentage points, from a negative 4% to a positive 1.7%. The profit after taxes increased 324 million, up to 68 million (2021: -256 million), reports the firm.
Despite the difficulties of a year in which production has suffered from the lack of supply of semiconductors, Seat defines 2022 as the year of the cycle change, a year in which despite not reaching the desired production volume (4% fewer cars sold), turnover and profit grew significantly, paving the way for Some following years that will be marked by the electrification of the company, which revolves, in case there was any doubt, on Cupra. The CEO of Seat and Cupra has explained it emphatically, Wayne Griffiths, this morning during the firm’s results presentation. “The future is electric, and the future is Cupra,” she explained.
“At first there were people who had doubts,” Griffiths acknowledged, recalling instead that in just five years Cupra already represents 40% of turnover and it is expected that in 2023 it will already exceed it. The commitment to Cupra is clear, added the CEO, noting however that Seat will not disappear in the short term, especially when the supply of semiconductors has begun to resume and a range of products is trusted, limited to combustion engines, still with strong demand. Another question is whether it happens in the medium or long term, in which Seat’s future is probably heading towards being the urban micromobility brand for the entire VW group.
«We cannot electrify the two brands at the same time, more in this time of transition. Decisions on electrification on Seat will be made later“Griffiths explained.
Seat’s return to profit is explained above all by the great push of Cupra, the sports brand that was launched in 2018 as a complement to the parent company, and that in five years threatens to cannibalize it. Profitability is much higher, and management’s commitment, endorsed by Volkswagenis meridian and resounding: the bet is called Cupra.
The figures for 2022 confirm this trend. If between Seat and Cupra they were manufactured 420,091 units last year, the first delivered 249,459, which represents a volume reduction of 27%. In contrast, 170,632 cupras were manufactured, which implies a growth of 108.5% compared to 2021, an advance that is partly explained by the overwhelming commercial success of the Formentor, with 105,568 units assembled.
The 2022 billing figures reported today in fact confirm the forecasts and the Strategic plan Announced in summer, when it was anticipated that by 2023 Cupra is expected to surpass Seat in billing.
If 2023 is the year of acceleration, 2025 must mean the year of the definitive electrical transformation. That year they must begin to be manufactured in a plant of Martorell already electrified the small, zero-emission vehicles that Seat will make for Cupra (Cupra Raval is targeted as the launch name) and the other VW brands. The goal is to reach 500,000 assembled cars, in a strategic plan that includes the VW plant in Lanbaden (Navarra) and the new battery factory in Sagunto, which is now beginning to be built.
The change of course was already set when the CEO of both Seat and Cupra confirmed at the time that the first 100% electric vehicle launched, the Born, would do so under the emblem of the second brand. In the same way, the planning of new models confirmed by the company last June indicates that if electrification is the future of the Martorell-based firm, all of them will be launched as Cupra: in 2024 the Cupra Terramara plug-in hybrid sports SUV that will mark the debut of the brand in the fastest growing segment in Europe.
The Terramar will be available with combustion engines, as well as with a new generation of plug-in hybrid propulsion systems that offer around 100 kilometers of autonomy in purely electric mode, the company has reported. Also in 2024 the Tavascan will be launched, a ‘coupè’ SUV that will become the company’s second 100% electric model.
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