SEAT Brand Car/LCV Production By Model : 2000-2009

SEAT cars fell away through this decade, which is hard for me to explain when the brand doesn't exist where I am. understanding what has driven customers away seems something hard to find any information on.

The only thing I can think of is that SEAT was known for making a sporty car. The name means 'Spanish Touring Car Company' in English. The brand seemed to move away from making touring cars but didn't really define itself in another way that made it special. It has an identity crisis. If I have got that right, then VW has to hold its hand up for that error.

1) Ibiza/Córdoba. The Ibiza 3/5 door hatchback along with the 4 door Córdoba was the mainstay of production through the decade. Despite that, numbers dropped over 100,000 in this time.

SEAT Ibiza lost in the woods maybe?

2) León/Toledo. The León 3/5 door hatchback along with the 4 door Toledo were the rest of mass production for the brand. Figures for each model were reported separately but I combined them here. Then when the 2005 Toldeo arrived, it's production numbers soon became part of the Altea model. I split the 2005 figures of the Toledo between the two.

3) Altea/Toledo. The Altea arrived as a compact MPV, much as the MK 3 Toledo, although that was more hatchback now. I must say that SEAT seemed to treat the Toledo in a muddled way. Four door car then Hatchback. Perhaps they should have made it an SUV, something SEAT really miss. Of course they are not sporty, but neither is SEAT anymore is it?

4) Exeo. Out of nowhere comes this compact executive car based on the Audi A4. Was this part of the sporty image VW was trying to engender? Sales were poor and it has since been  dropped.

The more upmarket Exeo

5) Alhambra. The large MPV still trucks along but sales had got pretty low by the end of the 00's.

6) Arosa. This tiny car in the range was axed in 2004 without replacement although it has now been reborn as the Mii.

7) Inca. The small van in the brand was decided not to fit the sporty image and was dropped in 2003, with the VW Caddy taking over this model's role.

Overall, production kept falling as the decade progressed. With nearly 200,000 of production lost, someone took their eye off the ball. A shame as I still am looking for the sporty car range promised to materialise. Maybe that isn't a growth area anyway. An SUV with a sporty style to it would be a good start I would have thought. Over to you VW.

	00	287.0	139.2	-	-	23.9	28.4	21.9	500.4
	01	267.2	139.6	-	-	26.5	23.0	20.5	476.8
	02	256.0	133.1	-	-	26.3	19.6	15.7	450.7
	03	279.8	132.6	-	-	23.7	13.8	10.1	460.0
	04	230.6	129.8	67.1	-	21.6	9.4	-	458.5
	05	206.2	108.4	75.5	-	14.9	-	-	405.0
	06	214.9	126.5	66.9	-	14.4	-	-	422.7
	07	202.0	120.6	76.1	-	14.2	-	-	412.9
	08	212.9	96.8	60.2	0.4	10.3	-	-	380.6
	09	178.6	66.4	33.3	23.0	6.2	-	-	307.5

Car pics: NetCarShow.com