SEAT Sets Target on Alfa Romeo

Volkswagen Group has elevated the SEAT brand and is now sending it after Alfa once again.

You might not equate the more staid SEAT models with the dramatic styling and flair of Alfa Romer, but VW group CEO Herbert Diess hopes that younger buyers, who don’t remember the Alfas of the 1970s, will. Now the Volkswagen Group is planning to separate SEAT as the stylish mainstream brand in the family, separating it further from sensible Skoda and mainstream Volkswagen.

“Young, sporty, desirable, emotional – this is how we are positioning SEAT a little higher,” he said during an earnings call earlier this month. “Today, SEAT has a much better product mix than just a few years ago and has the youngest customers in the group network. I believe this brand still has plenty more potential,” he added.

Diess hopes that while classic Alfas might be fresh in the memory of older buyers, the young buyers that SEAT wants to attract won’t. Those buyers might more associate the Italian brand with the lacklustre cars of the late 1990s and early 2000s.

“Ask a 25-35 year old about Alfa, they are at a loss, they have no idea what Alfa is,” Diess said.

Appropriately, the CEO of SEAT is Luca de Meo, who ran Alfa for two years. He’s turned the Cupra badge into a separate performance car line that’s earned its performance hype. He has also expanded the product range to include new smaller crossovers that also appeal to younger buyers.

The 40 year younger Spanish SEAT’s history of building cars that share platforms with the Volkswagen Group’s other offerings may not be able to match Alfa’s 100+ years of sports and racing cars, but brand officials are confident that with modern buyers, it won’t matter.

[source: Automotive News Europe]

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