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Seat - Spain's flagship turns 75!

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Created on May 8, 2025

Reading time 8min

Written by:

Martin Sigrist

Photos:

Daniel Reinhard

SEAT Archiv

Bruno von Rotz

Seat S.A.

Seat / Werk

SEAT

Seat/Werk

Archiv AMAG Classic

Abel C. Corbalan

Antoine Dellenbach

Archiv

Daniel Reinhard

SEAT Archiv

Bruno von Rotz

Seat S.A.

Seat / Werk

SEAT

Seat/Werk

Archiv AMAG Classic

Abel C. Corbalan

Antoine Dellenbach

Archiv

Seat 1400 (1953) Fertigungsstrasse bei SEAT in Barcelona im Jahre 1953

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Seat 1400 (1953) - An der spanischen Küste

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Seat 600 (1962) - das 100'000 Modell ist gebaut

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Seat 600 Formicheta (1967) - Classic-Gala Schwetzingen 2019

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Seat 600 (1957) - 60 Jahre hat dieses Modell schau auf dem Buckel, dahinter ein Seat 600 E von 1970 (Techno Classica 2017)

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Seat 800 (1964) - deutlich praktischeres Familienauto dank der vier Türen (Techno Classica 2017)

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Seat 800 (1964) - viertürige Version des vorher sechs Jahre lang gebauten Zweitürers Seat 600, 20 cm länger (Techno Classica 2017)

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Seat 850 corto (1968) - Der kurze Viertürer, eine Konstruktion von Francis Lombardi, wurde nur 419-Mal gebaut

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Seat 1500 (1965) - Die Karosserie stammte vom grösseren Fiat 1800

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Seat 1500 Familiar (1967) - Der grösste Kombi aus spanischer Produktion

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Seat 124 (1968) - Der spanische 124 war kaum vom Fiat zu unterscheiden

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Seat 1430 Expecial 1600 (1974) - nru 852 Exemplare wurden gebaut, zuweit voraus war der schnelle Kombi dem Markt - Techno Classica Essen 2019

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Seat 600 Savio (1964) vom 60 Jahre Seat 600 Jubiläum am Spirit of Montjuïc 2017 (Catalunya Classic Revival)

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Seat 1400 Visitas (1954) - wurde auf Basis des ersten Seat-Serienmodells gebaut, um Werksbesucher in der Produktionsstätte herumzuführen - Techno Classica 2015

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Seat 850 Coupé (1968) - Auch in Spanien gab es ab den 1960er-Jahren einen Markt für kleine Sportwagen

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Seat 850 Spider (1969) - an der RAID Young Raiders Challenge 2018

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Seat 133 (1974) - mit James-Bond-Co-Schauspielerin Ursula Andres

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Seat 127 Quatropuertes - viertürige Version des populären Fiat 127 - am Genfer Automobilsalon 1974

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Seat 127 (1975) - in einer viertürigen Variante - Genfer Automobilsalon 1975

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Seat 1200 S (1977) - eigenständiges Coupé, die übrigen Modelle sind eng an Fiat-Modelle gekoppelt - Genfer Autosalon 1977

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Seat 1200 Sport (1975) - praktisch und schön zugleich

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Seat Sport 1430 (1979) - basiert auf der Mechanik des Fiat 127, weist kompakte Abmessungen auf - Genfer Automobilsalon 1979

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Seat Ronda (1984) - die Produktepalette vor Erscheinen des Ibiza

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Seat Ronda (1984) - mit technisch ähnlicher Konzeption wie der Ibiza

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Seat Ronda (1983) - eine Variante zum Fiat Ritmo - an der Internationalen Automobilausstellung IAA in Frankfurt 1983

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Seat Malaga (1986) - Ergänzung zum Ibiza und Ronda - Genfer Autosalon 1986

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Seat Malaga (1987) - technisch mit dem Ronda verwandt

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Seat Ibiza (1984) - das Design stammt von Italdesign (Giorgetto Giugiaro)

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Seat Ibiza (1984) - anfänglich nur dreitürig

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Seat Ibiza GL 1.5i (1987) - mit fünf Türen

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Seat Ibiza GLX 1.5i (1987) - mit vier seitlichen Türen

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Seat Ibiza GLX 1.5i (1987) - als Fünftürer

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Seat Ibiza GL 1.5i (1989) - für den Schriftzug im Motorraum bezahlte Seat Lizenzgebühren pro gebautes Fahrzeug

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Seat Ibiza (1984) - Querschnitt durch den Motor

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Seat Ibiza (1984) - Motorkonstruktion von Porsche

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Seat Ibiza (1984) - quer eingebauter Vierzylinder mit angeflanschtem Getriebe

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Seat Ibiza (1985) - die Motoren wurden durch Porsche entwickelt - attraktives Schnittmodell - Genfer Automobilsalon 1985

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Seat - ohne Autos in Genf, aber die mit Porsche entwickelten modernen Aggregate haben zweifellos Zukunft - am Genfer Automobilsalon 1984

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Seat Ibiza GL 1.5i (1989) - der von Porsche mitkonstruierte Vierzylinder mit Benzineinspritzung

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Seat Ibiza (1984) - grosser Innenraumkomfort

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Seat Ibiza (1984) - die Sicherheitsstruktur entstand in Zusammenarbeit mit Karmann

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Seat Ibiza (1984) - selbstragende Karosseriestruktur

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Seat Ibiza (1984) - Blick "durch" die Haube

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Seat Ibiza (1984) - grosse Türen für optimalen Zugang

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Seat Cordoba WRC (1999) - ADAC Eifel Rallye Festival 2018

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Seat Ibiza (1984) - das Cockpit wurde von Porsche mitbeeinflusst

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Seat Ibiza (1986) - Blick in den Innenraum

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Seat Marbella (1994) - noch auf dem Fiat Panda basierend

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Seat Terra Furgoneta (1994) - die Lieferwagenversion des Seat Marbella

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Seat Ibiza (1994) - auch die zweite GEneration gab's mit zwei und vier seitlichen Türen

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Seat Ibiza GLXI (1994) - die zweite Generation basiert auf dem VW-Baukasten

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Seat Toledo (1994) - bereits auf VW-Produkten basierend

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Seat Toledo (1994) - Stufenhecklimousine, nicht vom Ibiza abstammend

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Seat Ibiza GTI 16V (1995) - 1996 wurde daraus der erste Seat Cupra, für «Cup Racing», mittlerweile ist Cupra eine eigene Marke

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75 Jahre Seat - Fabrik in der Zona Franca bei Barcelona in den 1970er-Jahren

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75 Jahre Seat - Firmeneigene Ausbildung in den 1960er-Jahren

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75 Jahre Seat - Seats Hauptquartier wanderte in den 1970er-Jahren von Madrid nach Barcelona

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75 Jahre Seat - Seats neue Fabrik in Martorell nahm 1993 die Produktion auf

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Summary

The Spanish car manufacturer SEAT is celebrating its 75th anniversary. Although the first Seat 1400 - a licensed product from Fiat - only rolled off the production line on November 13, 1953, the foundation stone was already laid in 1950 with the founding of Sociedad Española de Automóviles de Turismo, S.A. on May 9 of that year.

This article contains the following chapters

A new attempt
National symbol Seat 600
Bocanegra, the first Seat in-house development
Fiat doesn't want to - or can no longer
Brief independence before the marriage with Volkswagen
Cupra offshoot

Estimated reading time: 8min

Preview (beginning of the article)

However, the history of Seat goes back even further, as a banking consortium, together with leading Spanish industrial companies, including Hispano-Suiza, was to found a company, SIAT: Sociedad Ibérica de Automóviles de Turismo, as early as 1940. The patron was the state-run Instituto Nacional de Industria under the Franco regime. The idea was to find a strong partner from abroad who would provide Spain, an emerging country in terms of industrialization, with advice and support in order to set up its own national automobile production. However, in the middle of the Second World War, European manufacturers were busy with other things than building new car factories abroad. So the project was postponed in Spain until later.

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