SEAT headquarters and production facility, Barcelona, Spain
(First Posted August 30 ,2013) I know, this is the posting you all have been waiting for, the SEAT production line in Barcelona, Spain!
When I traveled to and worked in Spain in the ‘60s and ‘70s, SEATs were probably the most common cars to be found on the country’s roads. All were licensed from Fiat, 850s and 124s. By the time I returned to Spain in 1989 to assist my friend Bob Frerck on a three week photo shoot, SEAT had been bought by VW, and all SEAT models were VW variants.
All photos in this article, except as noted, were shot by Bob Frerck.
Sort of like the Wizard of Oz
Aside from our SEAT PR guide, this was the only other person that we encountered at the factory. I’m not sure what his job description was, but he probably was waiting for a fault light and buzzer to go off so he could shut down the line. We had expressly asked to see the body assembly line, which was totally automated.
The guy was just sitting there playing with himself, so I asked him if he could pretend to actuate a switch, or some control. The result was this Pulitzer prize winning (Not!) action shot that Bob captured.
A unit body comes together
This three-door hatch was more than likely a SEAT Ibiza. The Ibiza was the first car developed by SEAT as an independent company, with input from Italdesign, Karmann and Porsche. From the second generation of the Ibiza onward, SEAT was part of the VW Group. Judging from the VW decals on the robots, these Ibizas were second gen or later.
At this point on the line, most of the body panels and floor pan had been brought together, and a army of robots were busily spot welding the stampings into a recognizable car body.
Up close and personal
The line was eerily quiet. The only noise came from the hiss of the spot welders.
A nearly complete monocoque
These photos were taken 24 years ago, nearly a quarter of a century, but I doubt that the line would look much different today.
Photo by yanfuano on Flickriver
This is the finished product, a SEAT Ibiza 1.2. A number of displacements were available, including a 903 cc unit, 1.5 and 1.7 liter variants, as well as a 1.7 liter diesel.
This exhausts my collection of SEAT material.
Seems like kind of a SEAT-of-the-pants article.
I completely agree. This would have been a much better story if when Kevin arrived, he was told to “Please take a SEAT.” And then did it.
They sell reasonably well in the UK though I haven’t seen many older survivors.
How is this name pronounced? Is it pronounced Say- At?
You should know they named a car after you!
Perfect pronunciation. Say-At, or more accurately, Say-Aht.
The new Seat, Leon. Not bad, not bad at all !
http://www.netcarshow.com/seat/2013-leon/
CC effect,just seen a Seat Leon R
I’m a Spaniard with a Seat Ibiza indeed… Albeit the generation after. It’s pronounce SEH-AT
“This is the finished product, a SEAT Ibiza 1.2. A number of displacements were available, including a 903 cc unit, 1.5 and 1.7 liter variants, as well as a 1.7 liter diesel.”
So the model called the “1.2” was available with everything except a 1.2?
Shortly after this the welding robots joined the communist party and never showed up to work again, the guy working “El Computron 4000” was laid off……
Actually, HAL 9000 fired him. (obscure 2001: A Space Odyssey reference) Ha ha! Sometimes I crack myself up.
Senor HAL. Come on, 2001 isn’t that obscure, its a landmark film.
I’m sorry Kevin, I’m afraid I can’t do that…
Nothing obscure about a 2001 reference. Right up there with Monty Python and Spinal Tap…
C, you are a lurker.
Cool as i remember Seats when they began exports to Oz and of course we have them here in NZ Love the production line somewhere in our family stuff are photos taken of preproduction HQ holdens my Dad shot while touring GMH factory and proving grounds in 71 I’d love to find those pics again
The left doesn’t like to be reminded of this, but it was on Francisco Franco’s watch that Spain joined the modern world. From 1959 to the mid-70s, Spain’s postwar “Economic Miracle” was second only to Japan’s. A lot of that newfound prosperity had to do with the Franco government’s initiative to get Espana a car industry by striking a deal with Fiat to start building Seats.
Pic and quote both from Wiki:
In [1957] was launched the historical SEAT 600, which proved to be the crucial car that literally motorized Spain, being the first car for many Spanish families and becoming a symbol of the Spanish Miracle.
When Bob and I first worked together in Spain in 1974, Franco was still in control (he died in 1975). The country was quite orderly, but dull. When we stopped to ask the Guardia Civil (government goons) directions, those in the south were civil (hah) and kept their weapons holstered. In the Basque provinces the Guardia kept automatic weapons aimed at you when you asked for directions. We soon learned that mastery of maps was the better option. In 1974 Spain was a very safe place to be but could be creepy.
By 1989 Franco was long gone and Spain was a different country. But personal possessions, if left in a car, were at risk, especially in Sevilla.
I’m not so sure if Franco deserves much of the credit for the boom times from the early 1960s, because prior to that, Spain was a very closed, nearly autarkic economy, which was pretty stagnant, even after the devastation of the 1936-39 Civil War. Remember, Franco had been ruling since 1939.
The Spanish government began to liberalize their economy from 1959 on, because, they had to, they were virtually bankrupt and the old policies clearly weren’t working. A combination of the ouster of the old guard Falangists running the economy, the IMF, and a group of new wave technocrats helped foster in the Spanish Miracle. Reestablishment of diplomatic relations with the US in the 1950s and military cooperation with the US also helped.
Absolutely. Sure, Franco was a brutal, oppressive dictator who helped overthrow a democratically elected government and ordered thousands of politically motivated assassinations and executions, but hey, he helped Spain’s car industry get started. Sounds like a good trade-off to me.
By that *extremely* well thought out rationale, Stalin was also a net positive because he started the GAZ and ZIS works. Not to mention Ceaucescu and Dacia.
unless a second gen Ibiza looks a lot like a first gen one, those are firsts. I recall they used to have a large ‘system Porsche’ decal on the lowest part of the door of the 3-door car
SEAT paid Porsche 7 dm per car to brag about that.
Those are absolutely first-gens. VW took over Seat in 1985 but the Ibiza had been developed independently before that, with some help from Porsche, although some engines were still Fiat’s. The first-gen Ibiza did receive a few updates which made it a bit more VW-esque over the years, most notably in 1991.
The second-gen Ibiza is a totally different car, made entirely from VW parts, very similar but not identical to the third-gen VW Polo. The third generation of Ibiza is all Polo mechanically, just with more stylish looks and a lower price.
Commentariati:
I am one of the most apolitical persons out there. I have no political agenda. The only reason I bring up Franco is that my friend Bob and I worked in Spain, one of our favorite countries (Bob has made over 50 trips to the Spain), and the differences pre and post Franco were palpable. I leave the Commentariat to judge. I just like cars, be they SEATs or whatever.
Well, I’m very surprised to see my name’s at least here. Those pictures are great. Were the shots taken at Zona Franca or Martorell? (My guess is Zona Franca, because Martorell was adapted for the second generation).
I’m a owner of a second gen Ibiza, second restyle (1998). My car is closer to a VW Polo of the time, albeit with worse materials inside. Nevertheless, the powertrain is awesome and has survived very well. I’m over 300k km with it (a 90hp TDI)
That first generation Ibiza was a success. It was roomy and practical inside. At the time, the Giugiaro lines were very fresh and crisp and the engines were very decent. It was a showcase of the ability of Seat engineers to keep the cars going until they were bought by VW and, although there was a lot of input from VW and the car was somewhat based on the Seat Ritmo, it is the closest to a fully Spanish (or Catalan?) car we’ve ever had. There was also a 5-door version and a 4-door named Seat Málaga. That generation got a restyle in the early 90s and then it was changed in 1993 for the previously mentioned Polo-based version built in Martorell.
As other commenter said, they haven’t survived that much, like other cars from the mid-80s such as the Citroën AX or the Fiat Uno. Those are the cars of my childhood, in addition of the left-overs from the 70s.
Just one thing: Except the Exeo and the Alhambra, Seat calls all its cars with the names of Spanish cities but not from Catalonia, which is quite surprising since they’re built in Catalonia. Catalanophobia? Fear of other Spaniards’ Catalanophobia? Probably yes. Even the president said that a Catalan city would not be “Spanish” (insert political rant here). Actually, the Toledo should have been called Barcelona but you can imagine that no Real Madrid supporters would have bought a car named after the archirival city and football team.
Besides any political arguments: few Catalan cities have names that are easy on the tongue. “Toledo” cannot (easily) be mispronounced, particularly abroad, and it’s got a sound to it that people will remember. Barcelona, Tarragona, Figueres, Lleida etc do not have those benefits (ok, Girona might).
It seems, no less, that Seat is no longer using this naming policy: none of the new models that appeared since the Leon use city names: Arosa, Altea, Exeo, Mii (stupid name, even for a city car).
Names can make or break a car’s success, so choosing a good name is of paramount importance. Good question: what is a good or bad car name? City names may carry political sensitivity, numbers are a little sterile, some American cars have even gaudier names than looks.
Hehe, Let me disagree (in a very friendly way)… You can use Vic, Tortosa, Reus, Gavà, Sitges, Aran (one day they actually spoke on the radio about this)… There are many places here with “easy” names… Arosa is in Galicia and Altea near Alicante. Not to start a flaming word here. And yes, Mii sucks as a name!
You’re from Spain. Why was a Mitsubishi Pajero so wrong ?
(….Beavis and Butt-head laughing….)
You know the answer 🙂 It’s related to something teenagers are famous for!
” “Toledo” cannot (easily) be mispronounced” You wanna bet? In the US the city in Ohio, where Jeeps are made, is pronounced Toleedo, not Tolehdo as it should be.
I must admit to having a problem with Catalan, however. When my family’s DS 19 broke down in the mountains, we were towed to Lerida where we spent a couple of days while our “tiburon” was brought back to life. What a great city in which to cool one’s heels. Today Lerida is Lleida. Totally unpronounceable.
On the same trip that Bob and I shot the SEAT factory were in the town where the Dali museum is located in Catalunya . We went to a cafe for lunch. I ordered in Spanish. The waitress responded in German. I told her in Spanish that I did not speak German. After a bit more German she relented and we began to speak in Spanish. Tough crowd those Catalanes.
This is not exactly a place to rant about this but Lleida was Lleida before it was called Lérida. The names in Spanish were mandatory for about 200 years until they were reverted back to the original names, which are Catalan. Are you sure you can’t pronounce “YEY-dah”? Heheh.
The town with the Dalí museum you mention is Figueres, where I’m spending my weekend now (where my partner lives). I’m surprised they answered in German. My guess is that the waitress didn’t pay attention to your words and just the way you looked. Not a single person would risk tourist business on purpose…
And yes, we are a very tough crowd. We like our language and our country! *hugs*
I’m very aware that the regional dialects (I’m not sure that that is the correct term) came back into being after Franco’s death. To those of us not educated in the realities of Spanish culture (hey, we all speak Spanish, ain’t that great!), being introduced into the reality of modern Spain can be somewhat jolting.
However, being of Irish heritage, there is only one thing that I thank the English for-they made us learn English, the language, that is. We later used that against them in the US. Go Irish!
Oh, I just realized one thing. The first picture was not a production facility. Those two buildings were the administrative offices and the main dealer of the brand, which acted like a showroom. They are placed in Plaça Cerdà. Both buildings were sold and they are now apartments and just “a normal Seat” dealer is kept in the building on the right. The raised highways were also demolished in the mid-90s and Plaça Cerdà is a little bit more human now.
Seat’s production facilities were just 5km away from there, in Zona Franca, by the port (which was Fiat’s original requirement and the reason why the SEAT factory was built in Barcelona and not in Madrid). I can’t recall when but a second factory was built in Martorell (just 30 km away) which was fully refurbished in the early 90s for the second-gen Ibiza.
One of my cousins works for Seat, as well as his wife. Main factory is Martorell but they keep the gearbox factory in the nearby town of El Prat de Llobregat and they still build metal body panels for a lot of models in Zona Franca which is where my cousin works.
When holidaying in England in May, I was surprised how many Seats I saw driving around. We got the original Ibiza new here in New Zealand in the 1980s; someone in my town bought one new, it was quite a handsome design, but VW stopped selling Seats here in the ’90s. The Audi A4-based Exeo looks good, but my favourite Seat is this fantastic Leon Cupra that I photographed in June in Switzerland’s Lausanne. Check out those awesome windscreen wipers that park vertically up the A pillars, brilliant design!
Damn, I miss this guy.
I recall something about him being an engineer or industrial designer, perhaps, but in any case, not a “writer” as such. But boy, did he have the skill for taut and somehow funny reportage. It’s all in that “somehow” where his talent lay.
Speaking strictly as a non, but liking the terms I was raised with, I say godspeed, Mr Kevin Martin. And, belatedly, thanks for this.
There’s some more of his coming down the pike. He was somewhat prolific in this section of time that I’m currently mining for reruns…And I completely agree with you. This wouldn’t be a post I’d be rerunning if I had written it… 🙂
I’m kind of surprised you don’t write anything…? You should try it, really.
“This three-door hatch was more than likely a SEAT Ibiza”
Its a five door Ibiza. Please note the B pillars.
“Sure, Franco was a brutal, oppressive dictator who helped overthrow a democratically elected government”
“Democratically” my a**:
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&ei=Gs-CXc6nHtuKjLsPyPC4sAI&q=stanley+g+payne+collapse+of+the+spanish+republic&oq=stanley+g+payne+collapse+of+the+spanish+republic&gs_l=psy-ab.3…4271.11686..12040…0.0..0.93.1601.20……0….1..gws-wiz…….33i10.8tkvJUqRL7M&ved=0ahUKEwjOnJjl09vkAhVbBWMBHUg4DiYQ4dUDCAo&uact=5
https://www.google.com/search?q=%22el+pucherazo+del+36%22&client=firefox-b-d&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiQlp6M1NvkAhWQ0eAKHddBBa0Q_AUIDCgA&biw=1600&bih=775&dpr=1.2
https://www.google.com/search?q=%221936+fraude+y+violencia%22&client=firefox-b-d&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi3u9uk1NvkAhXgAWMBHS86AHwQ_AUIDCgA&biw=1600&bih=775&dpr=1.2
Franco was not good, but what we had before in Spain was no better.
I’d have to say this is the strangest variant of the CC effect I’ve experienced as I’m currently in Spain, moving my daughter her for a year to teach English. Seats are still very popular, at least where I’ve been so far.
Perhaps you can inquire about a SEAT factory tour, and we can update this post! Have fun in Espana!
No time for that, unfortunately most of the rest of the family wouldn’t be that interested. I do have a hire car to review of forbidden fruit that some might be interested in. I’ll drop you a line once I get home.
Sounds great, drive safely and have a good rest of the trip!