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SEAT to Celebrate 60th with 600 Show Car

SEAT plans to celebrate its motoring history by building an homage to the SEAT 600, the first car it ever produced. The one-off show car will be shown at Automobile Barcelona, SEAT’s home auto show.

The 600 BMS, as it’s being called, is a design experiment only, but will honor the car that motorized Spain. With a retractable top, front suicide doors, and a “striking light gray” paint color, the car is sure to garner attention in the nation its predecessor helped to save from economic dire straits.

The original SEAT 600, for those who aren’t up on their post-war Spanish history, first rolled off the line in 1957, the result of a partnership between the newly named Sociedad Espanola de Automoviles de Turismo, S.A. and Fiat.

600e

The Sociedad was originally set up by Banco Urquijo and other industrialists following the Spanish Civil War as a way to bring the country into the 20th century. Coming into that century, Spain’s economy lagged behind the rest of Europe’s and the painful Civil War did nothing to help industrialization. Banco Urquijo, therefore, was interested in creating modern factories to help energize Spain’s economy.

With few local automakers to borrow mass production techniques from (Hispano-Suiza, which was an investor, and other automakers were small-scale operations), SEAT had to look to international partners to help set up an automaking industry.

It struck a deal with Fiat (interestingly, VW just missed out on winning the contract) because of its international deal with France’s Simca, and Italy’s similarity to Spain. And so, in 1957, the first SEAT-badged 600 rolled off the line in Barcelona.

seat-600

The Fiat and SEAT 600s were essentially identical, but, for many Spaniards, the SEAT 600 would be the first car they had ever driven. It was, in a very real way, the Spain’s people’s car. Moreover, the jobs and industry that SEAT’s plant brought were a crucial part of Spain’s “economic miracle,” which saw Spain’s economy grow quickly to eventually become the world’s ninth largest. As such, the car is still held in high regard in Spain.

By 1963, SEAT was making the 800. Again, this car was essentially a Fiat, but the 800 was unique to SEAT. It wasn’t until 1975, with the SEAT 1200 Sport, that SEAT would build a car of its own design.

Not long after, Fiat would pull out of SEAT, opening the door for Volkswagen partner with the Spanish brand in 1983. By 1986, VW was SEAT’s major shareholder, and now it’s one of the VW Group’s 13 brands.

Now, the Ibiza and the Leon have replaced the 600 as SEAT’s people’s cars, and SUVs are replacing them, but we still think a cute little SEAT that was simple and small, and helped mobilize a country is something worth celebrating.

The post SEAT to Celebrate 60th with 600 Show Car appeared first on VWVortex.



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