Seat won’t launch an EV until 2030s, confirms CEO

Seat won’t launch an electric car this decade – but the brand will need one if it’s to survive in the future, CEO Wayne Griffiths has confirmed.

The Volkswagen Group-owned brand will make a decision on an EV timeline “at the end of the decade”, said Griffiths.

However, speaking at Seat and Cupra’s 2024 results conference, Griffiths admitted that Seat “will need an EV for it to continue”, adding: “For Seat to have a certain future, we need to have an electric future.”

Asked why Seat would wait until the 2030s when others are launching multiple EVs now, Griffiths said that “Seat at the moment is in a good place” financially, with 310,000 sales last year – a 7.5% rise on 2023 – and a turnover of €4.8 million.

Coupled with a lack of capacity at its factory in Martorell, Spain, where the upcoming Cupra Raval, Volkswagen ID 2 and Skoda Epiq triplets will be made, “at the moment [an EV] for Seat is not an immediate priority”, he said. 

Seat was originally planned to launch the Volkswagen ID 3-based El-Born as its first electric car in 2021, but that was rebadged as the Cupra Born after Cupra was turned into a standalone brand.

Griffiths also pointed to the sibling brand as a reason for not yet launching Seat EVs, given its success and profitability negates the need for Seat to hurry out an EV. Cupra, whose line-up includes the Born and Tavascan, recorded 248,100 sales in 2024.

Regardless, plans are currently being worked up as to what a Seat EV could look like.

When asked if the upcoming Volkswagen ID 1, which has a target price of around £17,000, could provide the basis for its first, Griffiths said he “would consider it in the future” but “it is not the time for a Seat EV just yet”.

This tracks with comments by Volkswagen technical chief Kai Grünitz that the ID 1 has been developed entirely as a standalone model for Volkswagen, with no plans for related cars from sibling brands.

Griffiths explained that the sticking point for any Seat EV would be profitability. “Cars would need to be profitable,” he said, and “for Seat as a company, we are looking to make money now and invest”, which would be hard with a cheap EV.

However, he added that he “would not rule out” the prospect of an ID 1 twin in the future for Seat.

He previously told Autocar that while the Seat group would remain centred on Cupra for the foreseeable future, as it is simply more profitable, the focus will be placed on Seat again when electrification reaches lower-priced segments and there is suitable demand for such products.