Seat could build cars in South America, says CEO Erich Schmitt. “For interesting markets like South America it is worth considering localized production,” Schmitttold the German newspaper Handlesblatt today.
Seat is owned by the Volkswagen group. It needs to increase its sales outside Europe to meet ambitious sales targets set by VW group CEO Martin Winterkorn.
Winterkorn wants Seat to sell more than 800,000 cars by the year 2018, up from about 445,000 in 2007.
Schmitt told Handlesblatt that Seat made a slight profit in 2007 after 2006 losses of almost 50 million euros. He did not disclose an amount.
Schmitt said he plans to expand the number of Seat’s models by 13 to15 over the next five years to cover all market segments. Eight of the new models will be in new segments.