If you live in North America you may not be too familiar with the Spanish company called SEAT S.A. so we thought it would be interesting to take a closer look. Currently, they are the only major Spanish car manufacturer to develop their own cars in-house while also exporting to over seventy countries.

Originally founded on May 9, 1950, by the state owned Instituto Nacional de Industria (INI), it is now a wholly owned subsidiary of the German Volkswagen Group, and marketed with a youthful sporty profile. Its current corporate headquarters are located in the town of Martorell just outside of Barcelona, Spain. The name SEAT, comes from the acronym Sociedad Española de Automóviles de Turismo (Spanish Touring Car Company, in English) however, in 1990 the name was officially changed to SEAT, S.A. 

One of SEAT’s recent corporate traditions has been its naming nomenclature which has been inspired directly by Spanish culture. For example, a large number of SEAT’s production models have been named after various geographic locations in Spain such as; Arosa, Ibiza, Córdoba, León, Toledo, Altea, Alhambra, Malaga, Marbella and Ronda.

2013 Seat Ibiza

2013 Seat Leon

However, there have been several exceptions to this rule including the recent example of the SEAT Exeo model name — which was influenced from the Latin word “exire” which means “to go beyond”.

As mentioned, the SEAT brand aims for a youthful and sporty corporate identity which is reflected in all facets of their global marketing. We came across an interesting example of their youthful and sporty focus with this recent TV ad from Russia which has been attracting lots of attention online.  We sure can’t imagine something this style flying in North America anytime soon. Nevertheless, it really is interesting to look at the differences between the various regions in regards to the marketing of the automobile.

Sources: Wikipedia, YouTube, Seat S.A. corporate website.