Seat Is Banking On Further Upswing With The Smallest

2023 Author: Eric Donovan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-08-25 09:36

Seat is considered a problem child of the VW group. But things are slowly improving in Germany. Germany boss Manfred Kantner can rely on a model offensive this year.

By Frank Mertens Things are currently running smoothly in Germany

for the Spanish VW subsidiary Seat. Manfred Kantner, Germany's boss of the brand, is correspondingly confident. In the first quarter of this year, the Spaniards were able to sell 14,960 vehicles. Compared to the first three months of the previous year, this is an increase of 6.2 percent. If you only pick out the single month of March, Seat was able to increase by 7.5 percent with 6588 units.

Seat with a model offensive

This is not a bad basis for further promoting the brand's sales in Germany this year. Above all, Kantner can rely on the ongoing model offensive. It started with the new Ibiza, and will continue with the Mii microcar, which will hit dealerships on May 12th. This is followed by the new Leon and the Toledo. Kantner can therefore fall back on new models in its growth strategy. Anyone who wants to bring a brand forward can do so best with new products.

Nevertheless, the Germany boss is surprisingly cautious with regard to the absolute numbers that he would like to achieve this year. No, he doesn't like to talk about sales figures. However, it reveals so much that it wants to achieve a market share of over two percent this year.

The emphasis is on over. Kantner assumes a total market of up to 3.2 million vehicles, as he says. In view of this number, it can be speculated that Seat is likely to sell at least around 64,000 cars in Germany in 2012, maybe even a little more.

Mii microcar with potential

But Kantner does not want to be committed to this either, despite repeated inquiries. Incidentally, in the previous year, Seat had sales of 59,030 units, an increase of 17 percent compared to 2010. This gave the VW subsidiary a market share of 1.9 percent in a total market of 3.17 million vehicles, as shown by figures from Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA). In percentage terms, this is a greater increase than at Skoda (plus 7.9 percent), the successful sister brand. But only as a percentage, because the number of units in the previous year Skoda was 142,611 units and a market share of 4.5 percent.

Seat is still a long way from that. But especially with a vehicle like the Mii, Seat should be able to grow further in Germany, also because the vehicle is offered at an entry-level price of 8890 euros. That is 560 euros less than the structurally identical Skoda Citigo. The inclined customer shouldn't think twice about which car to choose. But what can the Mii contribute to sales? Kantner reckons that the small car should make up between ten and percent of total sales.

At the same time, the Mii should be given even greater importance in perspective. Because the so-called A00 segment is growing steadily. While it was still 6.3 percent in 2011, according to figures from VW market research, a share of 10.3 percent is expected, and the trend is rising. To ensure that sales of the Mii are right in the end, the market launch of the small car is accompanied by attractive leasing and financing options. Those who like to drive Mii can do so for less than 90 euros a month.

In addition, Kantner and his head of marketing, Karl-Heinz Wrede, try to further promote sales of the existing model range with special models from the Ibiza and the family van Alhambra. It will be exciting to see where Seat will end up at the end of the year. 64,000 units plus x appear to be a realistic target in view of the model offensive and the growth in the fleet business.