



There is a particularly meaningful piece among all the positive news stories arising in the last few months about the Catalan economy: after eight years in the red, Seat has begun to turn a profit again.



Yesterday chairman Luca de Meo presented Seat’s accounts for 2015, which speak volumes: from a €67.7m loss in 2014, Seat went on to earn €6m in 2015, a trend which —if the car maker stays the course— is excellent news for Catalonia’s automotive industry, particularly when you consider its capacity, for instance, to create skilled jobs (as opposed to the tertiary sector).



Besides, yesterday Seat reported that next year its Martorell plant will manufacture a small-sized all-road vehicle which is guaranteed to keep the facility busy, as the trade unions had requested. De Meo aimed to send an optimistic message (“This is only the start”, he said) and reminded everyone that Seat will roll out four new models in the next 18 months.



It should be noted that the total revenue of Catalonia’s automotive sector amounts to €14bn (10 per cent of the industrial total), accounts for 25 per cent of the sector in Spain and provides 100,000 jobs, including indirect employment. Seat’s plants mean big business for the automotive auxiliary industry and the company believes that their new SUV will mean even more contracts for local suppliers, as they already specialise in small vehicles, such as the Ibiza. This is a unique feature of Catalonia —where 38 per cent of such companies are based—, which accounts for 41 per cent of Spain’s entire auxiliary industry output.



In addition to having a productive workforce and mature trade unions —which are equally able to negotiate better working conditions, as well as side with management and accept sacrifices when necessary—, it is also the existence of this cluster that affords Barcelona its top spot as an automotive innovation and research hub. All in all, it is obvious that the sector has made the most of the recession to do what was needed and, far from suffering the massive offshoring of production facilities that some had forecast a few years ago, Catalonia’s industrial culture still holds its market value and is a treasure to be preserved.