Volkswagen considers phasing out SEAT brand by 2029, German media reports

Volkswagen is considering phasing out the SEAT brand by 2029, according to an internal document obtained by German business publication WirtschaftsWoche.

"The SEAT brand will be phased out in an orderly manner with cost optimisation by the end of 2029 at the latest, while ensuring support for existing customers – for example, servicing – and compliance with existing obligations," the document reportedly says.

WirtschaftsWoche says it was approved by Volkswagen's entire management board.

SEAT, however, told the Catalan News Agency (ACN) that there is currently "no decision" to phase out the brand and pointed to Friday's supervisory board meeting, when Volkswagen is due to discuss a major business transformation plan.

According to WirtschaftsWoche, the decision is "final." "In addition, SEAT is no longer included among the group's strategic objectives for 2030," the document reportedly says.

SEAT – headquartered in Martorell, 20km inland from Barcelona – was founded in 1950 and is inextricably linked to the development of Catalonia's automotive sector.

The reported move would be aimed at reducing costs within Volkswagen's core brands.

"Maintaining SEAT in its current form would require additional resources, while the group's brand strategy is increasingly focused on Cupra," the document says.

It does not question the future of Cupra, which became an independent brand in 2018.

According to the plan obtained by WirtschaftsWoche, SEAT's existing products and sales and production structures would be transferred to Cupra in an "economically optimised" way, with annual production forecast at between 500,000 and 600,000 vehicles.

The report on Wednesday also said that Volkswagen, led by Oliver Blume, would propose to shareholders the progressive closure of four factories in Germany between 2031 and 2034.

The carmaker announced an adjustment plan in July that included reducing its model range by up to 50%, simplifying available configurations by up to 75% and cutting production capacity to nine million vehicles a year.

Earlier media reports had put potential job cuts at up to 100,000 as the group faces rising costs, geopolitical tensions and increasingly intense competition, particularly from Chinese manufacturers.

SEAT said the global environment had changed "significantly," severely affecting the automotive sector, particularly over the past year.

"The entire industry, including the Volkswagen Group and, of course, SEAT S.A., is undergoing a profound transformation, based on our commitment to electrification," the company, chaired by Markus Haupt, said.

Unions: "Nothing will be approved tomorrow"

Trade unions have played down the prospect of an immediate decision.

Sources at CCOO told ACN that the reports were a leak, that the company had made no official communication along these lines and that management has denied the brand is to disappear.

CCOO does not expect the supervisory board meeting on Friday to produce enough support to approve the elimination of SEAT or other measures.

"Nothing will be approved tomorrow," the union said.

CCOO said SEAT management had always told unions that it intended to focus first on the Cupra brand and address SEAT's electrification at a later stage, with the two brands potentially continuing alongside each other.

The union said it would raise the issue with SEAT management and warned that, if the company did decide to eliminate the brand, "this will not be a peaceful scenario" and that management would "have the works council and the workers against them."