Photo: Seat
Today, SEAT officially announced it is going to launch the first Spanish-made urban EV in 2025. That's good news for everybody, because crowded European cities need this kind of vehicle. It's also not so good news because we still have to wait some four years to see this SEAT EV, and the electric car market has already become very dynamic.
“This project is intended to become the driver for the transformation of the Spanish automotive industry. The support of the Spanish Government and the European Commission is needed. We believe that it’s part of our responsibility to electrify Spain. 70 years ago, we put this country on wheels. Our aim, now, is to put Spain on electric wheels,” Wayne Griffiths, the President of SEAT S.A., mentioned during the carmaker's 2021 Annual Press Conference.
These are optimistic and promising words, yet we hope Mr. Griffiths has also taken into consideration the development of the market and the EVs that the competition will launch for the next four years. The Spanish company will enter a segment of EVs priced at around €20,000-€25,000. However, for an urban vehicle, that doesn’t sound really attractive. For the same kind of money or even less, you can already buy such a car today.
The Renault Zoe is a bit bigger (probably) and its price list starts at €32,500. The Honda e is a typical urban car and it is available in Europe for €29,500. Finally, the Dacia Spring four-door urban EV is coming soon at a basic price of about €12,300 in France, including state subsidies. For sure, there will be some significant EVs aimed at the European and American market coming from many Asian brands, Chinese included, during the next four years.
“Our ambition is to produce more than 500,000 urban electric cars per year in Martorell also for the Volkswagen Group but we need a clear commitment by the European Commission,” Mr. Griffiths added. It seems they will also assemble some urban EVs from Volkswagen and Skoda there. It looks like the new Seat EV might be a proper replacement for the Seat Mii, VW e-Up! and the Skoda Citigo e iV minimalist trio of electric urban cars. Wise strategic thinking, if this is the case.
These are optimistic and promising words, yet we hope Mr. Griffiths has also taken into consideration the development of the market and the EVs that the competition will launch for the next four years. The Spanish company will enter a segment of EVs priced at around €20,000-€25,000. However, for an urban vehicle, that doesn’t sound really attractive. For the same kind of money or even less, you can already buy such a car today.
The Renault Zoe is a bit bigger (probably) and its price list starts at €32,500. The Honda e is a typical urban car and it is available in Europe for €29,500. Finally, the Dacia Spring four-door urban EV is coming soon at a basic price of about €12,300 in France, including state subsidies. For sure, there will be some significant EVs aimed at the European and American market coming from many Asian brands, Chinese included, during the next four years.
“Our ambition is to produce more than 500,000 urban electric cars per year in Martorell also for the Volkswagen Group but we need a clear commitment by the European Commission,” Mr. Griffiths added. It seems they will also assemble some urban EVs from Volkswagen and Skoda there. It looks like the new Seat EV might be a proper replacement for the Seat Mii, VW e-Up! and the Skoda Citigo e iV minimalist trio of electric urban cars. Wise strategic thinking, if this is the case.
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