SEAT UK leaves BTCC with 43 wins in 150 races

[m0rk]

SEAT'S BTCC SWANSONG

SEAT UK can reflect on five highly successful seasons in the BTCC after winning 43 races and scoring 101 podium results in 150 races. Having entered the series in 2004, Jason Plato and Darren Turner closed the chapter on SEAT UK's motorsport programme by ensuring the Leon TDI was the top winning car in the 2008 BTCC campaign - with 10 race wins to its name.

Read more at SEATCupra.net...

 

[shefflad]

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!

 

[Andywarr]

good luck to them

 

[diss_50]

This is a good pic

 

[Smee]

why are they not competin gnext year?

 

[ZBOYD]

Basically they feel they have achieved everything they wanted to achieve from the campaign, and it has run it's course.

To quote: SEAT UK are looking to broaden its appeal through its marketing strategy. The company will be utilising the resource that would otherwise have been used in British motorsport in areas that will continue to boost brand awareness and vehicle sales.

Reading between the lines SEAT has undergone a bit of a revival in recent years no doubt due to the brand awareness the motorsport has brought. Yet inwardly the company has had market forces to consider. Until recently the whole company seemed under threat of sale or closure by the parent group VAG.

Strong sales especially here in the UK and new Audi management has seen them stop the rot and make new investment towards expanding the brands reach in several sectors.

In the next 12 months SEAT will be introducing several new models, the new Ibiza being the first of these new models. The new EXEO is due to be shown soon at the Paris Motorshow which will see SEAT move into a new sector for the brand.

SEAT UK have obviously decided that the marketing money they spend on the motorsport would be better utilised in the marketing and promotion of these new models.

No doubt the current commercial climate within the car industry and financial worries here in the UK and much of Europe has affected their decision to re-channel their own finances in to different areas.

Motorsport is no doubt a great marketing tool for them, but it's also very expensive.