SEAT has announced that Tarraco will be the name of the brand’s third SUV following a vote by 146,124 SEAT fans in 134 countries who participated in the final stage of #SEATseekingName. Tarraco received 51,903 (35.52%) of the votes, followed by Avila, which was supported by 41,993 (28.74%) of the participants, Aranda, in third place with 39,321 (26.91%) of the votes, and Alboran, with 12,907 (8.83%). The results of the votes were certified by EY.
Tarraco, like the other three finalist proposals, is aligned with SEAT’s values and perfectly matches the personality of the new model. The city’s modern day name is Tarragona, and as the oldest Roman settlement on the Iberian Peninsula, it was one of the major metropolises of Hispania during the Roman Empire. This Mediterranean city is a legacy of culture, youthfulness, history and architecture, values which SEAT identifies with and conveys through its vehicles.
Tarraco is the first SEAT model name to be chosen by popular vote and the fourteenth Spanish place name used to designate a brand model. Almost four decades have gone by since the Ronda was the first SEAT model named after a Spanish city in 1982. In the past 36 years, there have been 12 more models with a place name from all over the Spanish geography: Ibiza, Malaga, Marbella, Toledo, Inca, Alhambra, Cordoba, Arosa, Leon, Altea, and the two most recent additions, Ateca and Arona.
#SEATseekingName, a successful turnout
The initiative #SEATseekingName exceeded all expectations. SEAT would publicly like to thank everyone who participated, and especially the cities of Avila, Aranda and Alboran for their huge deployment and mobilisation activities. In the first stage a total of 133,332 proposals were received from SEAT fans in 106 countries, who put forward 10,130 different Spanish place names following the guidelines defined by the brand.
In the next stage of the rigorous selection process, the proposals were verified using linguistic and legal criteria, and experts ensured that the names matched the brand values and conveyed the essence of the new model. Then several focus groups in the brand’s major markets were organised and further market tests were carried out in the different countries where SEAT sells its vehicles to come up with the list of four finalists.
Alboran, Aranda, Avila and Tarraco were the chosen place names. From that moment the voting period remained open for all fans to cast a vote for their favourite candidate, and the winning name is Tarraco.
The new Tarraco completes SEAT’s SUV offensive
With the new SEAT Tarraco, the company continues its biggest product offensive carried out to date and completes its SUV range, which already comprises the Ateca and the Arona, with a large vehicle that seats up to 7 passengers. The product offensive kicked off in 2016 with the launch of the Ateca and continued in 2017 with the Leon facelift, the fifth generation Ibiza and the new Arona crossover. The SEAT Tarraco will be launched at the end of this year.
SEAT is the only company that designs, develops, manufactures and markets cars in Spain. A member of the Volkswagen Group, the multinational has its headquarters in Martorell (Barcelona), exporting 80% of its vehicles, and is present in over 80 countries through a network of 1,700 dealerships. In 2017, SEAT achieved worldwide sales of nearly 470,000 vehicles.
The SEAT Group employs close to 14,700 professionals at its three production centres – Barcelona, El Prat de Llobregat and Martorell, where it manufactures the highly successful Ibiza, Leon and Arona. Additionally, the company produces the Ateca and the Toledo in the Czech Republic, the Alhambra in Portugal and the Mii in Slovakia.
The multinational has a Technical Centre, which operates as a knowledge hub that brings together 1,000 engineers who are focussed on developing innovation for Spain’s largest industrial investor in R&D. SEAT already features the latest connectivity technology in its vehicle range and is currently engaged in the company’s global digitalisation process to promote the mobility of the future.
