Seat will build its SUV in the Czech Republic

The rumour that emerged shortly before the end of last year has finally been confirmed. The first SUV from Seat will be assembled at the Czech plant of Skoda located in Kvasiny, near the border with Poland. This has been announced by the chief executive of the Spanish brand himself, Jurgen Stackmann, which rules out the other possibilities, although Martorell had already assumed it would not be produced there.

According to Stackmann, one of the reasons behind the choice of Kvasiny is that not all of the production capacity of these facilities is currently being used. The plant, whose lines currently produce the Skoda Roomster and Superb, could still accommodate the manufacture of another model. Since the production technology of the Volkswagen Group is modular, its flexibility allows different products to be assembled regardless of the brand.

Another reason behind the award of this SUV is that production in the Czech Republic means lower labour costs. According to data from the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA by its German acronym), the cost per hour worked is less than half that of Spain and four times lower than in Germany.

The Seat SUV will use the same modular MQB platform on which the Audi A3, the Seat Leon, the Skoda Octavia and the Volkswagen Golf are built. Its introduction into the range is scheduled for 2016 and represents one of the most critical resources the brand needs to lean on in order to get out of the losses it has been carrying since 2007.

Via | Automotive News