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The Automotive Industry and European Integration pp 283–315Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

A History of VW’s Spanish Car Plants, Part I: 1940–1989

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Abstract

In this chapter, provides a brief history of Volkswagen’s (VW’s) current Sociedad Espanola de Automoviles de Turismo, SA (SEAT) division through 1989. It begins by discussing the then Spanish automaker’s Barcelona Zona Franca factory tie-up with Fiat. It then reviews the early history of British Leyland’s Authi Landaben joint venture plant in Pamplona, which SEAT absorbed in 1975. This is followed by sections reviewing SEAT’s breakup with Fiat and subsequent partnership with, and takeover by, VW of Germany. VW’s post-1989 control of SEAT is continued in Chap. 15.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Georgano (2000); Pallares-Barbera (1998); Gonzalez (2001); Seat (2009, 2018); Tappi (2010); Catalan (2013). To avoid confusion, the all caps SEAT is used for the SEAT Group and corporation, SEAT SA. The mixed case Seat is utilized for the company’s car models and factories.

  2. 2.

    Ibid.

  3. 3.

    Ibid.

  4. 4.

    Ibid. During the 1960s, Siata, a contract manufacturer from Turin, Italy, that primarily produced sporty versions of Fiat, assembled CKD kits of the Fiat-600 based Siata Turisa Spyder, Tarraco mini, and Formichetta and 2850 commercial vans at its 220-worker plant in Tarragona, Spain.

  5. 5.

    New York Times (1967); Gonzalez (2001); Seat (2009, 2018); Tappi (2010); Catalan (2013).

  6. 6.

    Georgano (2000); Seat (2009, 2018); Tappi (2010); Catalan (2013).

  7. 7.

    Ibid.

  8. 8.

    Ibid.

  9. 9.

    Tappi (2010).

  10. 10.

    De La Torre (2007); Astudillo (2018).

  11. 11.

    Diario de Burgos (1964); Zaratiegui (2015). Citroen (Vigo), Renault (Valladolid), and GM (Zaragoza) ultimately built or expanded car plants in three of these five Development Poles.

  12. 12.

    De La Torre (2007); Cordovilla (2012); VW Navarra (2017–18).

  13. 13.

    De La Torre (2007); Adams (2018).

  14. 14.

    Coyne (1968); Lipuzcoa (2016); Adams (2018); VW Navarra (2017–18, 2018).

  15. 15.

    Georgano (2000); De La Torre (2007); Adams (2018); Lipuzcoa (2016); VW Navarra (2018). Some sources list Authi 1967 output as 14,645 by including 27 vehicles produced in 1966. I have reassigned these to 1966. On the other hand, whereas VW Navarra (2017a, 2018) report that only 14,922 cars were assembled at the plant through 1968.

  16. 16.

    Coyne (1968); Adams (2018).

  17. 17.

    Georgano (2000); Cowin (2014); Jacobs (2016).

  18. 18.

    Catalan (2000); Georgano (2000); Gonzalez (2001); Fernandez-De-Sevilla (2014); Adams (2018); VW Navarra (2018).

  19. 19.

    Ibid.

  20. 20.

    Ibid.

  21. 21.

    Catalan (2000); Georgano (2000); Adams (2018); Club Mini Cooper (2018).

  22. 22.

    Duffy (1974); Hammer (1974); New York Times (1975); Fernandez-De-Sevilla (2014); Adams (2018); VW Navarra (2018).

  23. 23.

    Catalan (2000); Adams (2018); Club Mini Cooper (2018).

  24. 24.

    Duffy (1974); Hammer (1974); Robards (1974); WSJ (1974a); Adams (2018); Club Mini Cooper (2018).

  25. 25.

    Giniger (1974); WSJ (1974a); Conderacci and Carley (1975); Adams (2018).

  26. 26.

    Giniger (1974); Catalan (2007).

  27. 27.

    Catalan (2007).

  28. 28.

    New York Times (1974); Carvel (1975); Conderacci and Carley (1975); Catalan (2007); Cowin (2014); Fernandez-De-Sevilla (2014); Adams (2018).

  29. 29.

    WSJ (1974b, c); Adams (2018); Club Mini Cooper (2018).

  30. 30.

    Carvel (1975); Conderacci and Carley (1975); Reuters (1975); Adams (2018).

  31. 31.

    New York Times (1975); Catalan (2007); Club Mini Cooper (2018).

  32. 32.

    According to the plant’s current owners, however, this total was just 131,744, including 83,596 Mini and 47,848 Austin, Morris, and MG. The last car was likely a Victoria (VW Navarra 2018).

  33. 33.

    Reuters (1975); WSJ (1975); Georgano (2000); Catalan (2007); Seat (2009, 2018); Tappi (2010); Fernandez-De-Sevilla (2014); Adams (2018); VW Navarra (2018).

  34. 34.

    Autocar (1976); Pallares-Barbera (1998); Georgano (2000); Seat (2009, 2018); VW Navarra (2018).

  35. 35.

    Georgano (2000); Seat (2009, 2018); Jacobs (2017).

  36. 36.

    Ward’s (1956–2018); UPI (1979); Fernandez-De-Sevilla (2014).

  37. 37.

    Ward’s (1956–2018); UPI (1979); Pallares-Barbera (1998); Georgano (2000); Seat (2009, 2018); Tappi (2010); Glon (2013).

  38. 38.

    UPI (1979); WSJ (1979a, b); Glon (2013).

  39. 39.

    UPI (1979); WSJ (1979b); Kamp (2007).

  40. 40.

    Ward’s (1956–2018); UPI (1979); WSJ (1979b); Smith (1998).

  41. 41.

    Ward’s (1956–2018); Tappi (2010).

  42. 42.

    WSJ (1979b, 1980a, b, c).

  43. 43.

    Ibid.

  44. 44.

    WSJ (1979c); Tappi (2010); Jacobs (2017). An unrelated mini-MPV originally dubbed the ‘Gingo’ but renamed the Panda launched at Tychy in May 2003. This occurred 11 years after Fiat absorbed FSM.

  45. 45.

    Reuters (1980); WSJ (1980b, c); Monahan (1981); Smith (1998).

  46. 46.

    Ward’s (1956–2018); Reuters (1981); WSJ (1981a); Kamp (2007); Fernandez-De-Sevilla (2014).

  47. 47.

    WSJ (1981b); Kamp (2007); Seat (2009); Glon (2013).

  48. 48.

    El Pais (1981); Georgano (2000).

  49. 49.

    Monahan (1981); Gooding (1985).

  50. 50.

    Ward’s (1956–2018); Tagliabue (1982).

  51. 51.

    Kamp (2007).

  52. 52.

    Bloomfield (1978); Catalan (2000); Jacobs (2016).

  53. 53.

    Graham (1982); WSJ (1982); Burns (1985a), Kamp (2007); Seat (2009, 2018).

  54. 54.

    Ward’s (1956–2018); Gonzalez (2001); Glon (2013).

  55. 55.

    Ward’s (1956–2018); Georgano (2000); Gonzalez (2001); Seat (2009, 2018).

  56. 56.

    Ward’s (1956–2018); Gonzalez (2001); VW Navarra (2018).

  57. 57.

    Ward’s (1956–2018); Gonzalez (2001).

  58. 58.

    VW Navarra (2017b, 2018).

  59. 59.

    Gooding (1985); Seat (2009, 2018).

  60. 60.

    Ward’s (1956–2018); Gooding (1985); Burns (1985c); Seat (2017, 2018); VW Navarra (2017b).

  61. 61.

    VW (1972–2018); Davies (1984); Gumbel (1984); Burns (1985a, b); Gooding (1985); Tagliabue (1985); Boyle (1986); Jacobs (2016).

  62. 62.

    Burns (1985b, c).

  63. 63.

    Ward’s (1956–2018); AP (1986); Davies and White (1986); Fisher (1986); Gooding (1986); White (1986a, b, c); WSJ (1985, 1986a, b); Smith (1998); Gonzalez (2001).

  64. 64.

    Ibid.

  65. 65.

    Ibid.

  66. 66.

    White (1986a, b, c); Done (1988); Smith (1998); Seat (2009).

  67. 67.

    Fisher (1986); WSJ (1986b); Seat (2009, 2017).

  68. 68.

    Seat (1988–2018, 2009, 2017); Pallares-Barbera (1998); Gonzalez (2001).

  69. 69.

    Boyle and Bray (1988); Done (1988); Seat (1988–2018, 2009, 2017).

  70. 70.

    Ward’s (1956–2018); Seat (1988–2018, 2009, 2017).

  71. 71.

    Marcom (1987); Boyle and Bray (1988); Smith (1998).

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  1. Department of Sociology, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, USA

    A. J. Jacobs

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Jacobs, A.J. (2019). A History of VW’s Spanish Car Plants, Part I: 1940–1989. In: The Automotive Industry and European Integration. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17431-6_14

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