SEAT to Repeat Last Year's Performance in Hungary

Based on the outlook of the Hungarian new car market, Ádám Rozgonyi, brand director of importer Porsche Hungaria SEAT, expects stagnation and a repeat of the 2023 volume in the sales of the SEAT and CUPRA brands this year.

Last year, 2,761 units of the Volkswagen group's two brands were sold in Hungary, an increase of 5%, which the brand director explained by a catch-up in orders placed in the previous year. The stagnant market forecast by the industry for this year as a whole will be shaped by opposite effects, which the brand director believes will strengthen the position of the two Spanish brands, in addition to updating the model range, with the start of production of the CUPRA Terramar at the Audi plant in Győr later this year.

In Hungary, SEAT's dealer network will be restructured by the end of the year as a result of the repositioning of the two brands, by which time 10 out of 12 dealerships will be selling both SEAT and CUPRA, with two remaining as salons for the less sporty brand. Ádám Rozgonyi indicated that the ratio is expected to reverse this year, with CUPRA dominating sales by 60-40%.

Last year, more than 80% of the buyers of the two Spanish-rooted brands in Hungary were companies. They participated in the domestic expansion of electric mobility with the delivery of 70 cars last year, one of which was the CUPRA Born. However, 10-15% of sales were plug-in hybrid vehicles.

The brand manager indicated that CUPRA will launch three electric models within the next two years. He recalled that the Group's strategy is to make CUPRA a 100% electric brand by 2030.

Ádám Rozgonyi pointed out that the Volkswagen Group will not let go of the SEAT brand: as long as the production of combustion engine vehicles continues, the brand will continue to be produced in this form. At the same time, SEAT is gradually becoming an urban mobility manufacturer, while CUPRA, as a growing new brand, is moving towards premium quality, so there is a transparent transformation between the models," said the brand director.

Porsche Hungaria is the Hungarian importer of the brands of the German Volkswagen Group (Audi, SEAT, CUPRA, Skoda, Volkswagen, Volkswagen commercial vehicles, MOON electric car charging systems) and its used car business Das WeltAuto.