Guess which car brand is back?
A Spanish carmaker returns to the Singapore market tomorrow. How will it fare this time around?
SINGAPORE — Seat cars are back. The Spanish car maker is re-entering Singapore officially tomorrow, when new importer Vertex Euro Motors opens the doors to a newly-renovated showroom.
The VW-owned carmaker last sold cars here in 2003, and ceased operations when importer ComfortDelGro quit the motor trade.
This time around, the brand has a much more enthusiastic partner in Vertex, which is perhaps best-known for importing cars from China’s Chery.
“We had to bring this brand in,” says Sng Khai Hing, the new dealer’s executive director (pictured above, left).
She had been looking for something to bolster Vertex’s brand portfolio, and spotted Seat’s cars at a motor show in China. “The cars were exciting and sporty,” she says. She knew she had found The One. Jon Tan, the sales and marketing manager for Seat here, says it was like love at first sight (above, right).
Vertex approached Seat in 2013, but found the brand reluctant to return. The carmaker was focused on the booming European market.
“We convinced them that it was going to be a loss for them if they didn’t come in,” says Ms Sng. The clincher? Vertex showed Seat numbers from the Land Transport Authority that suggested a huge growth in the COE Quota after 2013.
For its part, Vertex was drawn to Seat for more than its cars’ sporty styling. “The key to this brand is that it has a full range of cars reaching out to all aspects of our target audience,” says Mr Tan.
Vertex intends to add the Ateca to the lineup here next year. Based on the Volkswagen Tiguan, the five-seat crossover (above) will give the brand a vital model in a growing market segment.
Meanwhile, Mr Tan says Vertex has invested heavily in the business. Bringing the showroom up to Seat’s corporate identity standards cost nearly $1m, while a further $7m went into stocking spare parts, buying back-end equipment, and so on.
“My boss is very determined to make this a success,” says Mr Tan.
But while Vertex has spent millions to prepare for tomorrow’s relaunch, there is a sense that Seat did not completely disappear from Singaporeans’ radar. “We do not really feel like we are starting from zero,” says Ms Sng.
For one thing, she points out, Singaporeans are well-read and well-traveled enough to have some idea of Seat’s existence.
Seat’s first major hit was the 600 (above, left), a car built under licence from Fiat of Italy in 1957. Its global bestseller today is the Ibiza, a car styled by Lamborghini designer Luc Donckerwolke.
Old fans of the brand have also been in contact with Vertex, eager for news. Long before the showroom’s renovations were done, prospective customers would peer through the windows for a peek at the cars, she says.
Brand enthusiasts won’t have to do that now that the showroom is open, of course, but if it all goes to plan, they’ll have plenty of Seat cars to look at on the road.
READ MORE > Find out what cars are part of Seat’s Singapore line-up, which starts at $95,000 with COE.
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