Seat increased sales by more than 10% in 2021, despite a year where the firm was heavily hit by the impacts of Covid, semiconductor shortages and increasing raw-material costs.
Of the 471,000 cars the Spanish company sold last year, 391,000 were from Seat, representing a slight drop of 2% compared to pre-pandemic 2020, while numbers were bolstered significantly by the success of performance brand Cupra, which tripled its sales to around 80,000.
Turnover increased by 5.4% to €9.25 billion (£7.7bn), while the market share of both brands grew 3.6% in Europe. In terms of profit, however, the firm lost €256 million (£215m).
Cupra accounted for 25% of the company’s overall turnover for the year.
Electrified models increased in demand, with sales rising from 15,000 to 61,000.
However, Seat said “several trends” had hindered it from “achieving the recovery it had hoped for”.
Production was heavily affected by the chip crisis. Seat manufactured 125,000 fewer vehicles - 25% below its initial expectations for the year.
“In 2021, after learning to live with the negative effects of Covid, our plan to return to profitability was dramatically affected by another crisis: the shortage of semiconductors,” said Seat president Wayne Griffiths.
“This led to a massive loss of production volume, a negative impact on sales and a negative operating result of -€371m.”
As part of its Future: Fast Forward programme, Seat has announced a joint venture with the Volkswagen Group to invest more than €7bn (£5.89bn) to "electrify Spain" and develop EVs.
It said the spend will be the largest industrial investment in Spanish history and will include the construction of a battery cell factory in Sagunto, Valencia.
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