By Joan Faus, Christina Amann and Nick Carey BARCELONA/BERLIN/LONDON, Sept 17 ( ) - Volkswagen's historic revamp looks set to spell the end of its struggling Spanish marque Seat, potentially making it the first major auto-brand casualty of the rise of Chinese carmakers as experts predict sweeping industry consolidation. Seat would be the first longstanding auto brand to disappear since the early 2010s, when Ford axed Mercury, General Motors dropped Saturn and Pontiac, and Saab went bankrupt. Such closures are rare in an industry where famous marques can survive for decades.
The prospect underlines CEO Oliver Blume's willingness to streamline the sprawling German carmaker by focusing investment on its strongest brands. Volkswagen's overhaul, which includes sweeping job cuts, follows a plunge in the group's China sales as domestic manufacturers gained ground, adding to pressure from the industry's costly transition to electric vehicles. As part of the revamp announced earlier this month, Europe's largest automaker said Seat's future "beyond the current product cycle is still being evaluated", adding that "various scenarios remain possible beyond 2030".
A person involved in the discussions said Seat's fast-growing sister brand Cupra, which is going electric, will get all future products as Seat's combustion-engine models are phased out. "We do not want to maintain two brand names," said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity because the talks are confidential. Founded in 1950 as a state company during Spain's dictatorship, Seat was bought by Volkswagen in 1986 as a low-cost brand for its growing automotive empire.
But Seat has not launched a new model since 2020, a long absence in an industry where fresh products are critical to survival. The Barcelona-based brand accounted for less than 3% of Volkswagen's global deliveries in 2025. Meanwhile, sister sports brand Cupra, launched in 2018, overtook Seat in annual sales for the first time last year.
Cupra offers three fully electric models, including the new Raval, which Seat-Cupra CEO Markus Haupt described in May as a "game changer". Seat, by contrast, has no fully electric models and none are planned. Executives have repeatedly said the brand cannot justify the investment required for an EV programme because it is not profitable.
Seat union leader Matias Carnero fears the consequences for jobs. "If the brand disappears because it isn't going electric ... we have a serious problem," he said. "The warning signs have been there," independent auto analyst Matthias Schmidt said.
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