SEAT Celebrates 30 years of the Ibiza.

• Iconic Ibiza turns 30 this weekend (27 April 2014)  
• SEAT’s best-selling model, with five million sold
• Giugiaro, de’Silva and Donkerwolke among the car design legends with a hand in the Ibiza story 

This coming Sunday (27 April 2014) will be exactly 30 years since the very first SEAT Ibiza rolled off the production line in SEAT’s Zona Franca factory. Since that day, the Ibiza has remained SEAT’s most iconic and popular car, with sales approaching five million across three decades and four generations.

The car was a game-changer for SEAT, the first designed and developed completely by the Spanish company from start to finish – with a little help from some friends. Namely, collaborations with Giorgetto Giugiaro’s Italdesign design company, coachbuilder Karmann, and Porsche helped make the Ibiza a truly cutting edge small car, and the foundation of 30 years of ongoing success.

The very embodiment of the Spain of the ‘80s, the first SEAT Ibiza was ambitious, dynamic and ground-breaking. Its name, taken from the Mediterranean island, reinforced the exotic image given to it by virtue of its Spanish roots.

The backdrop chosen for the world première of the SEAT Ibiza was the prestigious Paris Motor Show in 1984, and from then on the car has gone from strength-to-strength, achieving success both in its domestic market (it has been the best-selling supermini in Spain since 2001, for example) and abroad, with almost seven of every ten produced exported; 69% of 5,000,000 total Ibiza production has been exported to more than 75 countries worldwide. 

The most important markets for the Ibiza during the early years were Italy, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Portugal and Mexico, in addition to Spain.

SEAT will celebrate this resounding and continued success with the launch of a 30^th Anniversary model, set to go on sale in June.¹

History: the SEAT Ibiza and the Martorell production plant

SEAT ended the ‘80s with production and sales records, and became a member of the Volkswagen Group. Until 1993 the brand’s activity had been concentrated in the Barcelona Zona Franca, but its membership of a new group, the success of its new models, and the need to increase production meant that a new industrial production complex was required. SEAT would be provided with a new modern factory next to its Technical Centre in Martorell, opened in 1991.

The second-generation Ibiza would be the first vehicle built at SEAT’s new Martorell production facility. More than that, the establishment of the new factory would give rise to the creation of a suppliers’ industrial estate, which at that time comprised 20 companies.

Today Martorell remains one of the most modern and flexible factories in Europe, its international standing attested to when SEAT received the ‘Automotive Lean Production’ award. Almost 700 Ibiza vehicles are built every day on Martorell’s Line 1, employing around 1,600 people directly; all told, SEAT generates direct and indirect employment for approximately 70,000 families.

The Martorell facility is also among the most environmentally efficient in the world, not least because of the recent completion of the ‘SEAT al Sol’ project, which saw the Spanish company install 53,000 solar panels on the roof, capable of producing enough energy to meet one quarter of annual Leon production and reducing factory CO₂ emissions by 7,000 tonnes per year.

Today the multiplying effect SEAT has on the economy is indisputable: SEAT cannot be understood without Martorell, and the Spanish car industry cannot be understood without SEAT.

The SEAT Ibiza: sporty, young-spirited and design-driven

The Ibiza is 100% SEAT, since it was the first vehicle designed and developed in its entirety by the company. Design has always formed part of the Spanish brand’s DNA, and in the case of the Ibiza the four generations have borne the hallmark of distinguished names in the field of automotive design.

For the first generation of the Ibiza (1984-1993), SEAT collaborated with Italdesign, the company of world famous Italian designer Giorgetto Giugiaro, with Karmann for the development of the bodywork, and Porsche for the technology of the ‘System Porsche’ engines.

There was a clear aesthetic leap in the second generation (1993-2002), which again bore the hallmark of Giugiaro. The lines were rounded and aerodynamic, and the car given a level of equipment and mechanical sophistication that were in those days normally only found in cars in the segments above.  

Italian designer Walter de’Silva, the current Head of Design at the Volkswagen Group, was responsible for the outline of the third-generation Ibiza (2002-2008), which took another step forward in manufacture quality, engine range and dynamic performance. Walter de’Silva introduced more attractive aesthetics, while the car’s dynamic prowess took another leap forward thanks to the ‘Agile Chassis’ concept developed by SEAT’s Technical Centre in Martorell.

The current generation of the Ibiza (2008 onwards) is the work of Luc Donckerwolke, Head of Design at SEAT in 2008 and formerly of Lamborghini. The concept of ‘Arrow Design’ was introduced with the 2008 Ibiza, resulting in a car distinctively sportier than its predecessors.

The raciest Ibiza conquers the world rally championship

The first SEAT Ibiza with a clear sports calling was the SXI with a 100 PS engine, the forerunner of the current Cupra and FR versions. In 1996, the company presented the Cupra version, with a 2.0-litre 150 PS engine, offering outstanding performance and a distinctly sporty image.

The Ibiza Kit Car was a much-awaited launch, with which SEAT achieved a brilliant triumph in the FIA 2.0-litre World Rally Championships – a success that was repeated in 1997 and 1998.

Did you know that?

• The approximate price of the SEAT Ibiza in 1984 was 825,000 pesetas (€4,950). At today’s prices that would be €15,620.
• The SEAT Ibiza was the official car at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games.
• The second generation of the Ibiza was the first model in its segment to be equipped with a TDI diesel engine, in this case a 90 PS unit.
• The SEAT Ibiza was the first model in its segment to have ESP (electronic stability control) as standard in the whole range.
• Sales by generation:
  • Ibiza I, 1984-1993: 1,308,461 units
  • Ibiza II, 1993-2002: 1,522,607 units
  • Ibiza III, 2002-2008: 1,221,200 units
  • Ibiza IV, 2008-to date: 924,183 units

1. An announcement will be made shortly regarding the UK release and specification of the Ibiza 30^thAnniversary Edition.

Happy Birthday SEAT, 60 years and counting

• Today marks 60 years since the first SEAT car, a 1400, was produced
• SEAT 1400 saloon became an instant hit, with 10,000 orders after its debut
• 98,000 1400 models were produced over a decade
• SEAT has gone on to produce 16,000,000 vehicles and counting

Yesterday was a very special day for SEAT: exactly 60 years ago to the day, the company’s first car rolled off the production line at its Zona Franca factory in Barcelona. That car was the SEAT 1400, an elegant and luxurious saloon designed in the spirit of the most popular American sedans of the '50s.

SEAT had been established only three years earlier, and had developed the 1400 with a focus on the transport needs of government officials. Initially available as a saloon, SEAT would also create estate, seven-seat and commercial versions of the 1400; Spanish cabbies loved the 1400, and it remained a popular taxi well into the following decade.

With a price tag of 121,875 pesetas (€41,735 or £35,200 today), SEAT initially produced five cars per day, built by a workforce of 925 employees. The rear-wheel drive 1400 was powered by a front-mounted, water cooled 44 PS engine and came equipped with a four-speed manual gearbox.

It wasn’t until June of 1954 that SEAT gave the model its official debut, at the Barcelona Trade Fair. And with petrol rationing in Spain having come to an end in 1953, the company received a staggering 10,000 orders. That allowed SEAT to both increase production and drop the price, reducing it to 117,000 pesetas.

By the end of 1954, SEAT had delivered 945 1400 models, but by the end of the following year, annual production was closer to 3,000, with almost all of the 1400’s components manufactured in Spain. One year later and production had more than doubled, to 7,000 units, and by the end of the following year SEAT was producing 10,000 1400 models annually, with 42 leaving the factory every working day. By that stage the workforce had increased to 5,000.  

Production of the 1400 ended in 1964, with 98,000 cars having been produced in Zona Franca and Spain going from strength-to-strength economically. SEAT was at the forefront of that growth, and remains a key player in the Spanish economy today, designing, developing and manufacturing its cars in the ultra-modern Martorell facility on the outskirts of Barcelona; since 2010, SEAT has invested €35m in the ‘SEAT al Sol’ project, which has reduced factory CO2 emissions by 7,000 tonnes per year using solar panel technology.

Since the launch of the 1400, SEAT has built more than 16,000,000 vehicles, including icons like the 600, the 127, the Ibiza and the Leon. Today the company exports over 80% of its production, and has over 1,800 points of sale worldwide.

2013: a year of significant anniversaries

The SEAT 1400 was replaced by the 1500, which began production 50 years ago in 1963. Ten years later in 1973, its successor, the SEAT 132, came to market. A truly luxurious car, the 132 was the first SEAT to feature an automatic transmission, and later in its lifecycle it became the first available with air conditioning.

Forward another ten years to 1983 and the SEAT Ronda came to market, and ten years after that, SEAT introduced the second-generation Ibiza - the first car ever produced in SEAT's Martorell factory and a model that, now in its fourth generation, remains SEAT’s most popular car.