SEPTEMBER SALES - SEAT - Spanish brand celebrates huge advances in sales for September & year to date.

• SEAT celebrates series of new UK sales records, including best ever single month, best quarter and year-to-date market share
• Retail sales up 27% year-to-date and fleet up 11.5%
• SEAT international sales up more than 10% too, with UK its largest growth market

SEAT is celebrating a series of new UK sales records, including best month, quarter and year-to-date market share. Finding homes for 9,594 of its cars, the Spanish brand’s stellar September performance dwarfed the same month last year by a lofty 1,096 units. It also eclipsed its previous best, set earlier this year in March.

The sporty, design-led marque is also basking in the glory of its biggest quarter ever on our shores, with 15,269 sales. Resulting in its highest ever September market share, at 2.25%,  it propelled SEAT to its most impressive year-to-date market share, at 2.18%.

Leading the charge was the Leon range. In September, just shy of 4,000 of them were sold, and more than 6,500 overall in the third quarter. The iconic Ibiza also continued to shine. Celebrating its 30^th anniversary, it’s still proving to be as desirable as ever, with 3,971 delivered in September alone.

While the numbers poured in, SEAT also maintained its healthy sales mix. In September, 5,527 UK retail sales showed growth of almost 10% on last year, with an even rosier picture year-to-date versus 2013, up over 27% over the same period, at 24,377.

Not to be outdone, its fleet team also posted a strong set of figures. At 4,067, its sales shifted upwards 18.2% on last September, and pushed SEAT’s year-to-date fleet growth to 11.5%.

Commenting on SEAT UK’s sales success, Director, Neil Williamson, “I’m delighted with our performance so far this year, and last month’s results are just the icing on the cake. We’ve got a great model line-up, with cars like the new Leon X-PERIENCE coming online soon. Plus, we’re winning plenty of awards and comparison tests too. It’s also encouraging to see our dealers making good returns as well, long may it continue. All we’ve got to do now is maintain our focus to deliver what I’m confident will be yet another record-breaking year for SEAT in the UK.”

Internationally, the news was equally positive, with SEAT sales up more than 10% year-to-date. The brand ended the third quarter with an aggregate increase of 10.5%, and 294,000 vehicles delivered, 27,900 more than in the same period 2013 (266,100). This growth momentum is being sustained by Leon sales, with the ST already making its mark, selling 32,700 units already, of the range’s total 117,500 so far this year. The SEAT Alhambra, with 17,000 vehicles (2013: 14,100) is also making solid gains, up 21.0% year-to-date.

Dr. Andreas Offermann, Vice-President for Sales and Marketing, highlighted growth in the main European markets. “SEAT is increasing above 20% in the United Kingdom and Italy, and more than 10% in Spain and Germany. In Portugal sales have almost doubled, and in Eastern Europe we are growing by 55%. The improvement in our results is based on a solid and ever-increasing range coupled with a stronger presence in Europe”.