Today’s Morning Dump headline is having a little fun with pronouns. Specifically, the pronoun “you” as in you might not be able to buy new cars from certain brands. There are many reasons for this. The brands could completely vanish or, short of that, could restrict themselves to certain markets.
In the category of brands that might simply not exist is SEAT, the Spanish brand that created a sub-brand that is now more important than the original. In the category of brand that may not exist in a specific market, I am going to place Maserati, which is rumored to be selling basically zero cars regularly in certain parts of the country.
Porsche will, one hopes, always exist, but the whole idea of European brands exporting electric vehicles to China seems remote, as sales numbers show how little demand there is. Which European brand will be the next one to completely bail on China?
It’s official that Volkswagen has a new boss in the United States, but will he oversee the addition of a brand or the removal of one?
SEAT Is Allegedly On The Chopping Block
Sociedad Española de Automóviles de Turismo, or SEAT, is not a brand you probably often think about if you don’t spend a lot of time in Europe. It’s a Spanish car company that got its start primarily making cars with partner Fiat. In the ’80s, SEAT and Fiat had a little disagreement, leading Volkswagen to step in and eventually take a controlling interest in the company.
Curiously, the Barcelona-based carmaker launched a racing trim of its Ibiza model called Cupra (for Cup Racing), which eventually expanded to other models and became its own standalone brand. The brand produces an attractive mix of cars, and announced an intention to come to the United States. That was a pre-tariff decision, so who knows now, but all the interest in VW’s Spanish arm has been generated by Cupra. In fact, through the first half of the year, Cupra is outselling SEAT by a large margin.
Why have both? As we’ve discussed, Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume wants to cut 50% of all models, which means reducing a lot of derivatives. Why not just cut an entire brand that probably doesn’t need to exist anymore? According to Autocar, that’s kind of the thinking right now in Wolfsburg:
For Volkswagen, maintaining two Spanish brands increasingly means spending money developing, marketing and distributing cars that often compete for the same customers.
This duplication is particularly difficult to justify as the Volkswagen Group embarks on its biggest restructuring programme in decades under CEO Oliver Blume.
According to internal documents cited by Germany’s Bild newspaper, the Volkswagen Group’s reasoning is explicit: continuing Seat in its present form would require additional resources while strategic development within the brand group is to be focused on Cupra.
There are a lot of attractive and interesting SEAT models, so the loss of the SEAT brand would be a loss for enthusiasts. Can Volkswagen continue to afford to make SEATs? That’s a harder question to answer.
How Long Will Stellantis Keep Maserati?
Above is the trailer for the Maserati movie, Maserati: The Brothers, the third film in the “movies about Italian carmakers” series from the producer of Ferrari and Lamborghini. My only hope is that LaForza is next. There’s some extreme acting firepower in the is movie: Anthony Hopkins, Al Pacino, Andy Garcia. Also, Jessica Alba is in it.
Will this renew interest in the fledgling marque? When Maserati and Ferrari were linked, the brand had a good run of new vehicles and renewed prestige. After Ferrari peaced out and became its own separate company, the case for the brand became a little harder. With sales falling dramatically every year, I keep thinking the company is going to get sold, and then Stellantis leadership comes out and says “there’s no plan to sell Maserati.”
Maserati doesn’t seem to charge enough to maintain its existence on selling anything under 15,000 to 20,000 vehicles a year. The company sold fewer than 8,000 cars last year. According to a post from Car Dealership Guy, Maserati dealers are struggling:
OVERHEARD:
“60 of the 86 Maserati dealers in the US have not reported a single sale this month.
13 have 1 sale.
Only 4 have sold more than 2.”
Maserati doesn’t report sales in the traditional way, and since January of this year its sales are just reported in consolidated shipments, so there’s no way to break out monthly sales. This does seem consistent with what we’ve seen dealers offering to get cars off the lot.
A new plan for Maserati is going to be announced at the end of this year, and I wouldn’t be totally surprised to hear that the brand is going to be pulled from some markets.
Imports Of Electric Cars To China Drop 99% From Peak
I love a Porsche Taycan, and if I could charge a used EV I’d definitely consider picking one of these up. If I lived in China, there’s no way in hell I’d buy a non-Chinese-produced electric car. They’re too expensive and Chinese automakers (and Tesla) are offering deals that are simply too good.
The latest numbers from the China Passenger Car Association confirm that Chinese consumers feel the same way.
China imported just four battery-electric passenger cars per day in July, the sharpest decline yet in a market that once relied heavily on European luxury EVs.
The 125 vehicles that crossed the border in July represent a 99 percent drop from the 2023 peak, as China’s booming domestic production makes imports virtually obsolete.
Battery-electric imports peaked at 30,124 vehicles in 2023 before plunging to 16,768 in 2024 and just 3,475 in the first seven months of this year, according to data from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).
If you want to know why European automakers are looking to cut production in Europe, this is why. After being able to export cars en masse to China, brands are either localizing production (BMW builds all its EVs for the market in China), or getting out entirely. I could see more brands joining Škoda, which is leaving the market this year, following both Polestar and Renault.
Meet VW’s New American Head Honcho
Confirming what we’ve known for about a month, inveterate wall-leaner Marco Schubert is going to be the new head of all of Volkswagen Group’s operations in the key North American market, replacing Kjell Gruner, who was one of the car execs of all time.
Here’s VW CEO Oliver Blume on the change:
“I am delighted that, in appointing Marco Schubert, we have gained a sales professional with a wealth of international experience to serve on the Extended Executive Committee of the Volkswagen Group for the North America region. With him, we will intensify our commitment in the most important growth market for the Volkswagen Group. In his Group function, Marco Schubert has successfully aligned Sales at Volkswagen Group across the brands and set central strategic courses for the future. Leveraging his expertise and profound understanding of customers and markets, he will play a pivotal role in driving the strategic and organisational transformation of our company across North America.
This, of course, has set up a musical chairs situation at the company, with Martin Sander replacing Schubert as head of Audi sales, Martin Jahn replacing him, Martina Biene replacing Jahn, and Christiane Zorn replacing Biene.
Schubert has a tough road ahead. What’s the point of Volkswagen? How is he going to balance Scout and Rivian (technically, both are independent companies, but c’mon)? What’s he going to do with Audi? Porsche? It’s a hard gig.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
I love a music video that’s a little film, and “Fancy” by Reba McEntire as her alter ego, Fancy Ray Baker, is one of the best. I always forget it’s actually cover.
The Big Question
Do you have a favorite SEAT? If so, what is it?
Top photo: Seat, Maserati, Porsche
My favorite Seat is the Arosa,with the only acceptable color being yellow.