Seat sits pretty as 2007 sales are totted up

Seat has its sights set on a record 2008 after notching up another impressive year of solid sales growth.

The firm’s rapidly-expanding selection of dynamic, high-value models is clearly connecting with buyers keen to mix style, safety and lively Latin spirit in equal measure.

With the number-crunching of 2007’s statistics now complete, SEAT is celebrating a significant 5.9% sales increase over the last 12 months, a performance which has also seen its market share rise to 1.45%. The UK car market, by contrast, is up just 2.5% in the same period.

Total SEAT registrations for the year came to 34,790, compared with 32,839 in 2006 (source: SMMT).

Biggest seller last year, and for the first time in place of the Ibiza, was the svelte Leon five-door family hatch which found 13,488 homes. Meanwhile, the perky Ibiza three- and five-door supermini recorded 13,085 sales and the practical Altea entered service with 3,667 households.

Underpinning these mainstays of the Spanish line-up in 2007 was a potent newcomer in the shape of the spicy Leon Cupra. The Cupra, a Tarmac-rippling 240 PS hot hatch, has instantly found a strong following among performance car fans looking for hardcore thrills with a bargain, sub-£20,000 price tag.

Together with the FR – the sporty 200 PS petrol and 170 PS diesel favourites of the Leon line-up – more than 4,700 of these thoroughbreds burst onto the UK motoring scene in 2007. That means hot hatches account for over 35% of total Leon sales.

Meanwhile, the new Altea XL – an even more capacious version of the Altea – and recently-launched Altea Freetrack 4, SEAT’s first-ever 4x4 and a worthy range-topper for the brand, together contributed 2,485 registrations. In total, the expanding Altea family accounted for over 6,100 SEAT registrations last year.

There’s plenty more to come in 2008 from SEAT, too. Among the premieres in the year ahead will be the UK debut of the ultra-low emissions Ibiza Ecomotive which, at just 99g/km of CO2, is set to become one of the greenest new cars on the market when deliveries begin in the spring.

With its extensive line-up of fuel-sipping turbodiesel models, SEAT is particularly well-placed to capitalise on the UK’s shift towards these engines. Almost one million diesels, more than 40% of the car market, were sold in 2007.

Peter Wyhinny, Director of SEAT UK, said of the 2007 performance: ‘We are, very clearly, a brand which is continuing on the up. In fact total sales last year were just shy of our all-time UK record.

‘These most recent sales figures prove SEAT offers cars that British buyers are crying out for. Our expanding range which mixes sporty styling, clever packaging and top notch quality – together with our dedication to value for money pricing and dealer excellence – means we are ideally placed to aim for record registrations in the year ahead.’