DriveTimes five
Questions about Seat
Seat is a well-established brand in Europe, but it really isn’t all that well known here. Apart from a brief appearance in the local market in 2000, New Zealand really hasn’t had all that much to do with the Spanish carmaker. Until now. There are so many questions about Seat from a Kiwi perspective. Here are five really good ones How do I say it?
This is probably the most common question about Seat, but one that almost answers itself. The Spanish pronounce it as a two-syllable word, and while it is not quite ‘‘Say-it’’ it is close. More like ’’Seh-at’’.
Pronunciation can vary and that’s fine because it’s a made-up name anyway: actually an acronym of Sociedad Espan˜ola de Automo´viles de Turismo. Which is why the company insists on writing it as SEAT. One thing is absolutely certain: it isn’t pronounced like those things you sit on.
What does it mean?
So Seat (or SEAT if you must) is an acronym of Sociedad Espan˜ola de Automo´viles de Turismo, which translates into Spanish Society of Touring Automobiles. But because ‘‘Automo´viles de Turismo’’ is the Spanish term for ‘‘Passenger Car’’, then the more correct translation is ‘‘Spanish Society for Passenger Cars’’. Which is a weirdly bland name for a car manufacturer that’s supposed to be all about fun.
Seat was SIAT (Iberian Society of Touring Automobiles) when it was founded in 1940, but became Seat in 1950.
Who owns it?
Seat is a wholly owned subsidiary of the massive Volkswagen Group. It all started back in 1940 when it was SIAT, founded by Spanish bank Banco Urquijo and a group of companies including Hispano-Suiza, as well as a number of construction and engineering companies. SIAT never really fired properly, so was ‘‘relaunched’’ in 1950 as SEAT: the Spanish government and six banks signed an agreement with Fiat (or FIAT if you like, because it’s an acronym too) to form a partnership in the company.
The partnership soured in the early 1980s and VW swooped in, purchasing 51 per cent of the company in June 1986, 75 per cent before the end of that year and eventually all of it by 1990.
Does it race?
Oh yes, it certainly does. Seat has been involved in Motorsport since 1971 when it started a single-seater series called Formula Nacional in Spain. By 1977 it had moved into rallying with the Seat 1430/124D Especial 1800 (essentially a Fiat 124), and having later success in the 2.0-litre ‘‘kit car’’ class, before moving into WRC in 1998. VW management put an end to that in 2000.
Seat has also competed in Touring Cars, in both the BTCC and WTCC series, as well as GT racing with the superbly aggressive Cupra GT.
Aren't they old Audis?
Well, they used to be. Kind of. Following VW’s compete takeover of the company, a lot of new models were developed that made use of old model tooling and interiors of both Audi and VW cars. The most recent example of blatant badge-engineering was the 2012 Exeo, which really was just an old Audi A4.
With today’s scalable architecture, Seat, VW, Audi, Skoda, Porsche, Bentley and Lamborghini (Bugatti is kept separate) all share platforms but generally have enough differences that it would be very hard to say they are truly the same underneath.