The Sociedad Española de Automóviles
de Turismo (Spanish Corporation of Private Cars),
or SEAT, is a relative newcomer to the automotive
industry. Founded in 1950 as a subsidiary of
Fiat, a significant share of the company was
owned by the Spanish government under the dictatorship
of Francisco Franco.
The first iterations were
almost identical copies of the Fiat models, such
as the SEAT Panda and SEAT 600 being more a badge
re-engineered Fiat Panda and Fiat 600. Fiat
withdrew from the partnership in 1981, paving
the way for SEAT’s first true model to
be released; after Fiat saw the new SEAT Ronda
a lawsuit ensued, it being painfully obvious
that the Ronda was very similar to Fiat’s
Ritmo.
Then president of SEAT Juan Miguel Antoñanzas
showed a Ronda to the press with all the parts
different from the Fiat Ritmo painted in bright
yellow to highlight the differences. This may
have ended the dispute, but Fiat choose to scrap
their own planned re-style of the Ritmo, deeming
it to be too similar to the SEAT. In 1986 Volkswagen
became a major shareholder, and by 1990 that
share had grown to 100%.
1999 - 2001
Featuring a more powerful 2.0 litre engine (instead of
the standard 1.6 litre unit) producing a healthy 110
kw, the Cupra benefited from a very attractive colour-coded
body kit, sports seats, 16" alloy wheels, white background
gauges, ABS, EDS traction control, air conditioning and
of course the regulation rear spoiler.
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