Yes I was going to say Austria. That's the new model. Chinese are sharp business folk. Keeping flexibility.
-
Hey Guest👍👎 We're looking for reviews of your local CUPRA or SEAT Dealership - it's quick and easy to do: Leave a review now
SEAT S.A. Addresses Brand Phase-Out Reports: Options Open Beyond 2030, New Hybrids Confirmed for 2027
- Thread starter TheSwede
- Start date
Well as they say, a job is not for life these days. Britain went through de industrialisation early.Still better than my ex-employers - nearly all of them are no longer in business, or the teams being dissolved, soon after I left....
We did have a camera manufacturing business that got finished off by German and Japanese industry. Japanese then finished off the German photographic industry. Smartphone many don't need a camera now. Korea finished off the Scandinavian phone industry. Ofcourse Korean phones made in China. Laptops and PC made in China.
Forgot about our collapsing computer industry to IBM. That collapsed to microcomputer from minis. It's a big technology movement and movement of manufacturing locations. Then you got automation and robotics. AI the next one.
Britain couldn't make cars as good as European manufacturers for the mass market. Japan and Korea moved in to the busuness. Now China.
Last edited:
Ah well I'm hoping that the local Seat / Cupra dealership will pick up a Chinese dealership to replace the Seat component. It may be that Cupra just becomes Seat. It's all going to rest on their EV offering and their line up not resembling Swiss cheese with air holes else punters won't be loyal although a lot of punters won't be loyal in anycase. Reflecting on what the local owner of the Skoda dealer said, what is Cupra for. But then he'd say that. Think his feeling was its not a mass market product although the smaller lower priced EVs are coming out of the Vag group. The lofty sporty models aren't mass market. Getting the range of models correct. We'll see.
If they scrub Seat cars they won't be dipping into the parts bin to make EV or ICE post 2030 with the name Seat on them. Saves design costs but then like Citreon you get left with the DS range that you have broken out for marketing. What's going for Seat is the factory space to make other brands in it at costs lower than in Germany. May be silver is more valuable than copper
.
For the Vag group it's whether they can make EVs that customers want to buy over other brands at the right price point with a supporting network of dealerships.
If they scrub Seat cars they won't be dipping into the parts bin to make EV or ICE post 2030 with the name Seat on them. Saves design costs but then like Citreon you get left with the DS range that you have broken out for marketing. What's going for Seat is the factory space to make other brands in it at costs lower than in Germany. May be silver is more valuable than copper
.For the Vag group it's whether they can make EVs that customers want to buy over other brands at the right price point with a supporting network of dealerships.
Last edited:
I agree this is the tip of the Iceberg as the supply chain of VAG involves lots and lots of companies across the globe who will be impacted.
Reuters reported that 25,000 job cuts will be in Germany the rest to be agreed with Unions
Volkswagen will seek alternatives for its German plants in Emden, Hanover, Zwickau and Neckarsulm following production phase-outs in the next decade but things can and will change.
@Momochi did you ever go for other BL Brands like Ausin, Morris & MG (I Did)
We've just updated our original article at the top of this thread in light of an official position provided by SEAT S.A. today.
They did the same thing a couple of years ago, now they do it again. First "phase-out" news, then some backtracking. A public relations disaster if you ask me.
Last edited:
I remember Nokia was once the biggest camera manufacturer in the world when they started integrating carmras in their mobile phones. And Lego was once the biggest tyre manufacturer selling more than Michelin and Goodyear....
And on my previous jobs - those companies I worked for are still going strong and prominent in the industry, just the teams being integrated with other internal departments, except for my first (proper) job when the firm later closed down for good even with good profit margin in the book, just because the owners wanted to shift their investments to other "more" profitable businesses....
BACK ON THE REVISED STORY
Those hybrids I was told about by the local dealer months ago. They are only stop gap measures on the ICE front to extend range until EVs have greater range..
The problem that Cupra has is that it doesn't have a full range of cars on the EV front like Skoda or VW. If you want something particular you have to look elsewhere so unless that is sorted out and Seat goes then it doesn't leave dealers with a good proposition to sell or buyers to buy.
Unlike the days where Vag had the three SUV sizes in three brands making nine cars it doesn't do that. The particular bends and creases in Cupras doesn't make those cars transferable.
The revised top piece acknowledges that production will continue in Spain across the group but doesn't resolve the future of Seat and the Swiss cheese offer of air holes in the Cupra range. Presumably Vag plans to get the most production out of their Spanish factories and its hard cheese what happens to Seat dealerships and Cupra with its limited model range. I guess some dealers will be peeved as well with the uncertainty. A Chinese dealership may await them.
Those hybrids I was told about by the local dealer months ago. They are only stop gap measures on the ICE front to extend range until EVs have greater range..
The problem that Cupra has is that it doesn't have a full range of cars on the EV front like Skoda or VW. If you want something particular you have to look elsewhere so unless that is sorted out and Seat goes then it doesn't leave dealers with a good proposition to sell or buyers to buy.
Unlike the days where Vag had the three SUV sizes in three brands making nine cars it doesn't do that. The particular bends and creases in Cupras doesn't make those cars transferable.
The revised top piece acknowledges that production will continue in Spain across the group but doesn't resolve the future of Seat and the Swiss cheese offer of air holes in the Cupra range. Presumably Vag plans to get the most production out of their Spanish factories and its hard cheese what happens to Seat dealerships and Cupra with its limited model range. I guess some dealers will be peeved as well with the uncertainty. A Chinese dealership may await them.
Last edited:
Austin, Morris etc.... Sorry, I was probably too young for those
...... The Rover 214 I bought in 1995 was already a "Honda" underneath but with the Rover's own K-series 16V DOHC engine (while the 216 used the Honda 1.6L unit). I somehow still keep the brochure at my mum's home....Attachments
Probably too old here. Knew they were dead then. School friend had E type and an MG. Brother worked for Vauxhall motors as a test engineer at Millbrooks. Father a flying boat flight engineer did all his car mechanics left it up to them. Obviously I did a sin when I bought a dieselAustin, Morris etc.... Sorry, I was probably too young for those
. Brother abandoned British cars, father moaned about modern cars not having a chassis for caravan towing. Father's were "No Hiding Place" Rovers and Wolseys. He'd buy ex police cars from a place on the A5. The good old days. He had a three wheeler sports car which he said was a Morgan. I found a photo and motoring experts of that vintage placed it. It wasn't a Morgan.... but forgot what is was . We had some other collectors item from the war held in an Uncle's garage where it had rested from the war. Father flogged it. Father bought a Hillman Imp for me to learn to drive on but kept it for himself. I bought a new Uno. No love affair with British cars.As per the early Japanese car industry in the Uk, bit like now the host manufacturer gets into bed with a foreign manufacturer and hopes to get some sparkle but it fails. Chinese are bright why they don't want the old German factories. The British offer then was to pool resources and make Japanese designed cars under British labels:
Honda Concerto - Wikipedia
All ended in tears.
Like the way the Chinese bought the MG plant and shipped it back to China which was their initial steps in the motor industry. Wheel turns a full circle now sell to us. Ofcourse as kids some of us looked to our HK made talking robots and big cars for Xmas...
Still have them .Well I had a Dagenham dustbin (Mk2 1600gt but modified) and my fav a 1.8 Austin Marina with a stage 2 head and nothing else now that was a fun car to drive.
Best of the british for me was a company car Rover 220 Turbo, Tyres lasted just under 7k but they kept the car on the road like glue and the Kids loved the tbar roof - ahhh the good old days.
Best of the british for me was a company car Rover 220 Turbo, Tyres lasted just under 7k but they kept the car on the road like glue and the Kids loved the tbar roof - ahhh the good old days.
The Rover-Honda-BMW saga was part of our lecture discussion when I did my master degree at Durham in the late 90's.Probably too old here. Knew they were dead then. School friend had E type and an MG. Brother worked for Vauxhall motors as a test engineer at Millbrooks. Father a flying boat flight engineer did all his car mechanics left it up to them. Obviously I did a sin when I bought a diesel
As per the early Japanese car industry in the Uk, bit like now the host manufacturer gets into bed with a foreign manufacturer and hopes to get some sparkle but it fails. Chinese are bright why they don't want the old German factories. The British offer then was to pool resources and make Japanese designed cars under British labels:
Honda Concerto - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
All ended in tears.
Like the way the Chinese bought the MG plant and shipped it back to China which was their initial steps in the motor industry. Wheel turns a full circle now sell to us. Ofcourse as kids some of us looked to our HK made talking robots and big cars for Xmas...
Honda was very much keen on full cooperation with the Rover management during their initial stages of the partnership, willing to provide all their latest technological knowhows and unique Japanese manufacturing and management skillsets to the factories, as well as their best car designs at the time for Rover to "copy". One could clearly see the big differences in the products at the Rover showrooms in the early/mid 90's: an outdated Rover 100 (Metro) designed by the Brits from the early 80's, on display alongside the much advanced Rover 200s and 400s which were over 90% adopted from the Honda Concertos. The only pride left for the Brits at that time was the Rover K-series engines developed solely in this country.
At the later stages of the partnership, Honda still did not want to sell, but was too frustrated by the British management at Longbridge that a full withdrawal was the only option. Rover thought "marrying" to the Germans were more attractive than continuing speaking in Japanese, yet they could hardly imagine the facts that all BMW wanted were 2 things: FWD technology specifically for the A-segment and the Mini brand.
When the MG brand was sold to the Chinese, it was originally sold to the Nanking subsidiary of SAIC, allowing this branch to learn the trade while SAIC (as well as FAW) continuous their long business partnership with VW. I bet not much has been learnt from MG as the technologies at that time were already very outdated compared to what major Chinese manufacturers had already learnt from partnerships with VW and the Japanese brands since the Millennium.
Dagenham Ah another factory dismantled and shipped to China
.
Heavy Machinery Transportation | UK to China Break Bulk
Machinery transportation and break bulk transport for engine tooling and 600 containers from the UK to China, with staged dismantling and packing.
www.allseasglobal.com
I worked in Essex, a Ford XR3i was the derigour thing for an upwardly mobile lass and Datsun something or other sporty number for the deputy head. They liked their cars in Essex.
Ford unravelled their parts department as part of the unravelling... went Southend way. You'd pass it on the A127.
Then you have this:
Dunton Technical Centre - Wikipedia
Essex another world
. There I was a rebel for buying Fiat Uno to commute between London and Essex. 130,000 miles in that. Public service. By the 1980s the idea of buying British car wasn't cool. Learnt to drive on a Metro. BSM. Ex paratrooper. He'd shout commands at you 
.
Last edited:
The only good items out of Dagenham were Bobby Moore and Harry Redknapp~~Dagenham Ah another factory dismantled and shipped to China
Heavy Machinery Transportation | UK to China Break Bulk
Machinery transportation and break bulk transport for engine tooling and 600 containers from the UK to China, with staged dismantling and packing.
I see a Seat UK newsletter, are they getting worried.
Celebrating
women in STEM
SEAT and CUPRA have joined forces with Universitat Politència de València to champion the role of women in STEM by unveiling a stunning 48m mural at our plant in Martorell, Spain. Painted by international artist Lidia Cao, it celebrates Dorothy Levitt – racing-driver, automotive pioneer and inventor of the rearview mirror.
Ah the rear view mirror.
en.wikipedia.org
Celebrating
women in STEM
SEAT and CUPRA have joined forces with Universitat Politència de València to champion the role of women in STEM by unveiling a stunning 48m mural at our plant in Martorell, Spain. Painted by international artist Lidia Cao, it celebrates Dorothy Levitt – racing-driver, automotive pioneer and inventor of the rearview mirror.
Ah the rear view mirror.
Dorothy Levitt - Wikipedia
Last edited:
I had a 1.3 Marina as my first car. Reasonable handling once I'd dialed out some of the understeer by adjusting tyre pressures; up at the front, down at rear.
My uncle (father's brother) has a 1.8 TC Coupe at the same time. Heavier engine gave it terminal understeer.
Mind you; I had Drum brakes all round. They didn't like a spirited drive on B roads.
Guy
Sent from my Galaxy S25 Ultra using Tapatalk
Loved my Saab 93 TDI estate, a little unreliable though1995 I bought a Rover, the brand is no more....
2014 I seriously considered buying a Saab, already an ex-brand at the time....
2025 I bought a SEAT....
afraid not, that was not an option for the company car. I had one of these in this colour and the glass roof you could take off.
Kids loved it and i have to say I wish I had one of these on the track based on how good they were on the road.
Similar threads
