Seat beats Volkswagen in profitability per vehicle sold | Economy

SEAT achieved a milestone in the first quarter of the year: it surpassed the Volkswagen brand (and the parent company of the German alliance to which it belongs) in profitability per vehicle sold. Efforts to sell the more expensive cars, now powered by the Cupra brand, are bearing fruit, according to the German group’s latest financial report. Seat made a margin of €929 for each of its cars if the first quarter operating profit is taken into account, while the German brand stayed at €831.

The Spanish brand made a leap in 2023, both in units sold (155,000 units compared to 107,000 in the previous year) and in operating profits, which amounted to 144 million euros, a figure far from the 5 million harvested in the same year. 2022 which means multiplying them by 28. The difference is due to the higher sales and higher margin obtained for each. SEAT’s income was 3,562 million, an increase of 48%. The numbers, which qualify for the quarterly report, include the Martorell-built Audi A1, though that’s not the point of differentiation for 2022, but the higher sales and good results the Cupra Formentor, Seat’s top of the range, gets. , and the Cupra Born, the brand’s first electric device. The latter recognizes the range, which is included among the “most successful fully electric vehicles” of the group.

Seat, under the direction of Wayne Griffiths, is implementing an aggressive car development policy with its eyes set on the Cupra that leaves aside the SEAT brand, which has no alternative to any of its current models, and whose end is expected to be the same. a contract. The latest sign in this direction came just two weeks ago, when it presented at a major event in Berlin the Tavascán, an all-electric urban SUV that will be the highest-paid car ever designed by the Spanish manufacturer and will be built in China: from 2024. In just four years, Cupra accounted for 40% of the turnover of the Martorell (Barcelona)-based company.

Despite Seat’s jump, which was also explained by a slight decline in Volkswagen, the Spanish brand still lags behind other brands in the group, such as Skoda, and far behind the high-end brands Audi and luxury Porsche. The latter, which went public last year and brought extraordinary profits to the group, has an operating margin per vehicle of €2,031: operating profit amounted to €1.7127 million, surpassing only Audi (1,816 million). Volkswagen, the larger brand, had 608m and Skoda 542m (€1,970 for each of its 275,000 cars sold).

Despite the good numbers, the German group reduced its net profit by 29.8%, which amounted to 4,730 million euros, hit hard by the increase in costs. Operating profit also decreased, to 5,700 million, affected by coverage of raw materials that were manufactured last year. The good development of the business is explained by the improvement in sales in Europe and the United States. Reserves in Western Europe amount to 1.8 million vehicles.

Follow all information for Economy And a job in Facebook And Twitteror on our website The weekly newsletter