Seat Altea d'occasion

SEAT was founded in 1950 to give Spain a car industry of its own, and its first job was to build Fiats under licence in Barcelona. The 600 of 1957 did for Spain what the Mini did for Britain: it put an entire country on the road for the first time.

Volkswagen took control in 1986, and the Ibiza and Leon turned SEAT into the group's youthful, Mediterranean brand: German engineering under the skin, Spanish temperament in the design. The Leon Cupra became a cult hot hatch and the Martorell plant grew into one of Europe's largest.

Today SEAT focuses on the Ibiza, Arona, Leon and Ateca, with the performance side of the story now told by Cupra. It remains the accessible face of the Volkswagen Group in Spain and beyond: well-priced, well-built and a little more expressive than its German cousins.