Mediaboss Marketing

It has seen five million units sold in 75 countries, and over its three decades of existence has become the brands top-selling model. The Seat Ibiza had a lot to celebrate on its 30th birthday last week.

The Ibiza, which is now into its fourth generation, was born in 1984 at Seats now-defunct factory in Barcelonas Zona Franca. The plant, which once employed 33,000 people, had sticky floors, was freezing cold in the winter and boiling hot in the summer, and saw its cars dragged around with chains. The concept of occupational hazards was not in the managers lexicon back then.

The engine of the first model had 44 horsepower, while the finished item cost 825,000 pesetas close to 5,000, which would be around 15,600 today.

But the Ibiza was a lot more than a best-selling model: it was the car that saved the company. In 1984, the Italian car maker Fiat had just pulled out of the Spanish car maker, which reverted to the National Industry Institute (INI). Meanwhile, Volkswagen was pondering whether it would be worth buying a Spanish brand that had a commercial network, but whose cars were not much more than replicas of the Fiat models.

The old factory was freezing in winter and boiling in summer

Vicen Aguilera, former director of Seats Technical Center and currently president of the Automotion Cluster of Catalonia association, joined Seat in 1982.

The Ibiza had been on the drawing board for a year, and it was a way to keep Volkswagen interested in us, he recalls. The German company finally bought Seat on December 30, 1985.

The INI had commissioned a sketch from the prestigious Italian designer Giorgio Giugiaro. But the draft came with no engine or gearbox.

C.B.

Production: 4,976,451 units spanning four generations of Ibiza

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Ibiza: the car that saved Seat