Volkswagen Group member company SEAT has reported that the company has clocked its best ever performance in 2018, selling 517,600 cars (+10% YoY), the highest in the brand's 68 years of history. In addition, the company has reported a record operating profit of 25 million euro (Rs 2,001 crore), a growth of 33.4 percent YoY.

According to the SEAT in 2018 it had a turnover of around 10.2 billion euro (Rs 80,356 crore), a growth of 3.1 percent YoY, which was also the highest in the company's history.

The carmaker is the only company that designs, develops, manufactures and markets cars in Spain, and a member of the Volkswagen Group. The Spanish carmaker is headquartered in Martorell (Barcelona), and exports around 80 percent of its vehicles and has a present in over 80 countries on all five continents.

Commenting on the record results, Luca de Meo, president, SEAT said: “2018 was a record setting year for us again. Our financial situation has never been better thanks to sales figures that are a reflection of the trust placed in us by our customers. We completed the first cycle of the renovation of our portfolio with the launch of the Tarraco and soon will begin a second phase with the ambition of being major players in the fields of electrification, connectivity and shared mobility. At the same time, we are also facing challenges and uncertainties arising from emission reduction targets and the macroeconomic situation.”

Holger Kintscher, vice-president for Finance, IT and Organisation, SEAT said: “In 2018 SEAT achieved the best operating profit ever and a triple-digit operating profit for the third year in a row. One of the factors contributing to this result is our strict cost-efficiency programme. We have to intensify these programme to invest in the company’s electrification and in reducing CO2.”

The carmaker's sales was led by Arona urban-SUV, the brand delivered close to 100,000 units, which emerged as the brand’s third top-selling model. The Arona successfully joined the Ibiza, Leon and Ateca as one of the four pillars of the brand and contributed to SEAT obtaining record sales figures in countries such as Germany, the UK, Austria, Switzerland, Israel and Morocco. According to the carmaker the global sales continued double digit growth at the beginning of 2019, reaching a record volume of 88,900 vehicle deliveries, which was 12.8 percent compared to the same period of 2018.