Seat prepares Martorell plant for EV production
Seat is investing three billion euros in the conversion of its Martorell plant near Barcelona for the production of electric small cars. This was announced by the Spanish Volkswagen brand on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the location, which at the same time heralds the transformation of the plant.
In order to be able to produce small electric cars for the Volkswagen Group here from 2025, the plant will be converted and the employees trained. Specifically, the VW and Cupra electric cars will be built in Martorell. Later, an electric Skoda in the four-metre class will probably follow and also be built in Spain.
In order to prepare for the production of electric vehicles for the various Group brands, Seat says it has drawn up a “strategic plan comprising five main pillars”. The ‘People and Organisation’ pillar includes staff training, while the ‘Electrification and Product’ pillar covers vehicle development – Seat is leading the ‘Small BEV’ development for the VW Group. The other pillars are ‘end-to-end production’ (E2E), ‘digitalisation’ and ‘sustainability’.
Currently, about 12,000 people are employed at the Martorell plant, which covers an area of about 400 football pitches. The site was opened in 1993 and since then 12 million cars have been produced there. In absolute terms, the Seat Ibiza, the Leon family and the Seat Cordoba accounted for the most units. According to the press release, the most frequently built model at the factory is the Cupra Formentor, which is also available as a plug-in hybrid.
“Our ambition is to produce electric vehicles made in Spain from 2025 and, as part of this transformation, Martorell will also manufacture the CUPRA UrbanRebel,” said Wayne Griffiths, CEO of Seat and Cupra. “Thanks to this project, the most important for our company in the years ahead, our employees and the factory will begin a new era.”
Volkswagen had already released total investments of ten billion euros in e-mobility in Spain in November 2022. These will flow into the conversion of the Martorell and Pamplona plants for the production of small electric cars as well as into the battery cell factory in Sagunt near Valencia.
While in Martorell the two small electric cars are to replace the combustion engine models VW Polo and Seat Ibiza, according to earlier reports the Pamplona vehicle plant could produce electric crossovers of the small car series in the future. So far, such a VW model has been called the ID.2 X – but since the ID.2 could reportedly become the ID. Golf, the crossover model may also be called something else. According to earlier information, a Cupra offshoot is not planned here, but a Skoda model with the name Elroq.
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