page_title: SEAT
section_title: Volkswagen Group subsidiary
hierarchical_section_title: SEAT / History / Volkswagen Group subsidiary
caption_attribution_description: Español: el SEAT Córdoba SX de blanco. English: SEAT Córdoba SX (coupé).
context_page_description: SEAT, S.A. is a Spanish automobile manufacturer with its head office in Martorell, Spain. It was founded on May 9, 1950, by the Instituto Nacional de Industria, a Spanish state-owned industrial holding company. It quickly became the largest supplier of cars in Spain. In 1986, after 36 years being publicly listed as an independent automaker, the Spanish government sold SEAT to the German Volkswagen Group of which it remains a wholly owned subsidiary.
  The headquarters of SEAT, S.A. are located at SEAT's industrial complex in Martorell near Barcelona. By 2000, annual production peaked at over 500,000 units; in total up to 2006, over 16 million cars have been produced including more than 6 million from the Martorell plant, with three-quarters of the annual production being exported to over 70 countries worldwide.
  SEAT today is the only major Spanish car manufacturer with the ability and infrastructure to develop its own cars in-house.
context_section_description: In 1982, Dr. Carl Horst Hahn, who had just assumed responsibility as the chairman of the Volkswagenwerk AG (Volkswagen Group), examined the opportunity of approaching SEAT after Fiat's withdrawal, in his plan to expand the Volkswagen Group's operations out of Germany and turning the German group into a global force.  It also followed the precedent set by other global manufacturers (such as Ford in Valencia and General Motors in Zaragoza) in setting up manufacturing operations in Spain.  However, the Spanish authorities had already started talks with other foreign firms, such as Toyota, Nissan and Mitsubishi  to choose a strong partner for SEAT. Hahn's interest soon resulted in an industrial and commercial cooperation, as well as a license agreement with SEAT on September 30, 1982, for the production in Spain of the Volkswagen Passat-Santana and Polo-Derby models in SEAT's Zona Franca and Landaben factories, respectively — having thus as an effect on April 29, 1983, the ending of the SEAT Panda's production at the Landaben assembly lines due to need of adapting this plant to the production of the VW Polo — and eventually a partnership agreement was signed on June 16, 1983 between the two parties being represented by the president of SEAT Juan Miguel Antoñanzas and Carl Hahn on behalf of the Volkswagenwerk AG. SEAT also gained the rights to distribute Volkswagens in Spain.
  SEAT launched its new Ibiza, a Giugiaro-styled hatchback, which made use of System Porsche engines and also featured underpinnings from the Fiat Ritmo/Strada, in 1984. It also formed the basis of the Malaga, a four-door family saloon. SEAT then began to expand into markets beyond Spain's borders, including the United Kingdom, where it began selling cars in the autumn of 1985.
  On June 18, 1986, after a purchase of the 51% majority non stake of SEAT followed by the increase of its share up to 75% on December 23, the Volkswagen Group became the major shareholder of SEAT.  On December 18, 1990, the Volkswagen Group acquired 99.99% ownership of the company, thus making SEAT the first non-German wholly owned subsidiary of the group. Fulfilling Hahn's expectations, SEAT not only made a profit 2 years after Volkswagen bought a majority of its stock, but also provided a low-cost manufacturing outlet for other VW models, contributing up to 15.2% of the VW group's total output in 1989, as well as an opportunity to enter the relatively unexploited (at that time) Spanish market under the SEAT, VW, and Audi names.
  The gathering of the brand's main infrastructures in the greater Martorell plant area has taken place in a long process beginning back in 1975 with the opening of the SEAT technical centre, but only in 1989 was a decision made to start building a new main assembly facility next to the technical centre in Martorell, replacing the old one in Zona Franca. In that same year, the translocation of SEAT's Madrid administration offices to Barcelona began with the sale of two of the brand's assets in La Castellana to be completed in 1991 with the definitive installation of SEAT's headquarters in the Catalonia region.
  The centralisation of the management, design, research, and production facilities localized around the plant site was meant to serve the aim of optimising the development in of new models. On February 22, 1993, King Juan Carlos of Spain and the newly elected since January 1, 1993 chairman of the Volkswagen Group Dr. Ferdinand Piëch inaugurated the Martorell plant, one of the most modern and efficient car plants in Europe using the just-in-time process with its suppliers' site located only 2.5 km away. The first cars that rolled out of the Martorell plant lines were the SEAT Ibiza Mk2 and its saloon version, the SEAT Córdoba Mk1. The new Ibiza was a huge success for SEAT, greatly expanding its market share, particularly on export markets.
  The original planning in October 1993 to close the emblematic Zona Franca assembly plant as soon as the production of vehicles could be transferred to the more efficient Martorell plant was overturned after an arrangemen
caption: The SEAT Córdoba SX is the coupé version of the Córdoba Mk1 saloon.
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