SEAT plant in Barcelona to hire 900 workers to produce the new Audi Q3

Barcelona (ACN)- Car manufacturer SEAT announced today it will increase the number of staff it employs at its Barcelona base to facilitate the assembly of the new Audi Q3. This new model will be produced completely in SEAT’s Catalan factory, located in Martorell, in the Barcelona Metropolitan Area. SEAT is part of the Volkswagen Group, which also owns Audi. The Spanish company will hire 700 new workers with fix-term contracts to produce the new Audi Q3 and 200 more to perform related tasks in different company departments. SEAT and the Catalan Government signed an agreement through which it will hire jobseekers that are currently in the unemployment register. The Catalan Minister for Business and Employment, Francesc Xavier Mena, said that it was “the most joyful day” he had had since he took office two and a half months ago. SEAT’s human resources vice-president Josep Schelchshorn announced that in the next 5 years, the company will invest 300 million euros annually in order to expand the SEAT product range.

The agreement between SEAT and the Catalan Ministry for Business and Employment states that the new employees will be people hired from the current unemployment register. The agreement includes training, which will be given to 1,200 people. 700 of those will then be hired with a fix-term contract. They will progressively join the company from May to September in order to start assembling the new Audi Q3. In total, the manufacturing of the car model will employ 1,500 people. It is expected that through the course of 2011 100,000 vehicles will be produced. 

The Catalan Minister for Business and Employment stated that this agreement and announcement is an example of the path the “Catalan economy needs to take in the future”. The Minister also emphasised the importance of having a company such as SEAT being leaders in the training and hiring of young talent. Mena explained that the two parts of his department’s name “Business and Employment” are “redundant” because “if there are businesses with a present and future, employment will be available. And if we want employment, we need companies such as SEAT”.

Changes in vocational training

Mena also wanted to reiterate the Catalan Government’s determination to reform the vocational training system. The Minister explained that the Government’s plans are to strengthen vocational training and integrate all the current sub-systems. The new vocational training aims to better work with private companies and offer more traineeships.