Seat decided to lay off 400 temporary workers due to sales drop

Barcelona (ACN).- Barcelona-based car manufacturer Seat, which is part of the Volkswagen group, announced on Monday that it has decided to lay off 400 temporary workers in the coming months. The reason is the decision to slow down the production of new cars, as the company experienced an 8.3% drop in car sales in 2012, compared to the 2011 figures. Despite the increase in sales in foreign markets, the company could not balance out its results last year, due to the recession in Spain, which is Seat’s main market. Seat had hired 600 temporary workers to work in its Martorell plant, located in Greater Barcelona, following positive results in 2011. Now, however, two thirds of them will be laid off in the months to come if the company sticks to its plan, which will be discussed with the trade unions.

The managers of the Barcelona-based brand, who are appointed by Volkswagen, have decided to reduce the number of Seat Ibiza car units, since the 2012 sales drop is the worst the company has faced since 1993. Spain is Seat’s main market by far and the current recession has meant that car sales have plummeted in the South European country, affecting all brands, including Seat of course. In order to recover from this scenario, the company will eliminate one of the three shifts in the production line of the Ibiza model, its most popular car. After this restructuring of the work force, 400 workers will be made redundant. Seat will lay off 400 of the 600 people it hired through temporary work agencies. The company will discuss its plan with the trade unions.

Seat improved international sales but sold 8.3% fewer cars in 2012

Seat delivered 8.3% fewer cars in 2012 compared to the previous year, according to a press release issued last week by Volkswagen. In total, Seat sold 321,000 vehicles last year, while in 2011 it delivered a total of 350,000 units worldwide. All were built in its Martorell plant, in Greater Barcelona. The decrease is due to “the difficult market situation in Western Europe”, as the note stated. Despite the poor results in Spain, the Barcelona-based brand sold 22.5% more cars in Germany, increasing from 52,000 units in 2011 to 63,700 cars sold last year. In addition, Seat also improved its sales in two other key markets for its internationalisation strategy. Deliveries in the United Kingdom rose to 39,000 cars, an increase of 8.2% compared to the 36,100 vehicles sold in 2011. In Mexico, the Catalan car brand delivered 16.5% more cars, rising from 18,100 vehicles sold in 2011 to 21,100 units last year.