SEAT SIGNS A PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT WITH BARCELONA DESIGN CENTRE

/ Partnership between BCD Barcelona Design Centre and SEAT is an automotive industry first
/ With this new collaboration, SEAT strengthens its commitment to design as a key element of its strategy

• SEAT has signed a partnership agreement with Barcelona Design Centre (BCD), which promotes and stimulates design in the business and institutional sphere. With this move, the carmaker becomes the only company in its sector to forge an agreement with the Barcelona-based foundation to strengthen the link between SEAT and Barcelona design.

  Design is a key element of SEAT’s strategy, and the city of Barcelona is one of its main sources of inspiration. For this reason, the signing of the agreement with BCD is a further step towards opening new channels of collaboration, as well as to become internationally recognised for design.

  Within the framework of this collaboration, SEAT and BCD will collaborate on projects to promote design and are going to share their expertise through training activities and their national and international network of contacts. In addition, SEAT will become a part of the BCD-led Design Cluster and have access to its network of contacts in more than 100 cities around the world, and its 160 members.

  According to SEAT Design director Alejandro Mesonero-Romanos, “this agreement consolidates our commitment to Barcelona, a city of design by name and by nature. The partnership with BCD further paves the way for our goal of becoming a design benchmark, as it enables us to create synergies that help us continue to develop the best designs for our vehicles, and what better way than to carry this out in our hometown.”

  The collaboration between the company and the foundation will lead to a programme of projects and activities that will be developed in the Barcelona Design Hub building or in the future Casa SEAT coming soon to Barcelona.

  In this sense, BCD executive director Isabel Roig pointed out that “Design is increasingly influencing technology and future trends for sustainable mobility. For BCD, the partnership with SEAT strengthens this relation between design, technology, innovation and mobility with a clear commitment to the creative talent of Barcelona, which is one of our key objectives.” Roig also added that “the agreement also opens new horizons for collaboration between both partners to enhance Barcelona as a leading international design reference.”

  Another scope of collaboration between SEAT and BCD will be the Barcelona Design Week, a yearly event that brings design closer to the public, making Barcelona the design capital of the world. This year the 13th edition is being held from 5 to 14 June.

  SEAT is the only company that designs, develops, manufactures and markets cars in Spain. A member of the Volkswagen Group, the multinational has its headquarters in Martorell (Barcelona), exporting 80% of its vehicles, and is present in over 80 countries. In 2017, SEAT obtained an after tax profit of 281 million euros and achieved worldwide sales of nearly 470,000 vehicles.

  The SEAT Group employs close to 14,700 professionals and has three production centres – Barcelona, El Prat de Llobregat and Martorell, where it manufactures the highly successful Ibiza, Leon and Arona. Additionally, the company produces the Ateca and the Toledo in the Czech Republic, the Alhambra in Portugal and the Mii in Slovakia.

  The multinational has a Technical Centre, which operates as a knowledge hub that brings together 1,000 engineers who are focussed on developing innovation for Spain’s largest industrial investor in R&D. SEAT already features the latest connectivity technology in its vehicle range and is currently engaged in the company’s global digitalisation process to promote the mobility of the future.

  About Barcelona Design Centre

  BCD Barcelona Design Centre is a private entity with over 40 years of history. Its mission is to promote the use of design in businesses and organizations as a transformation tool in order to become more innovative, international and sustainable, as well as contribute to making the Barcelona brand a worldwide design benchmark.