Markus Haupt

There are few industries undergoing a transformation quite as profound as the one we’re seeing in automotive manufacturing. 

The move to electrification; the growth of hybrid and hydrogen fuel technologies; the introduction of Industry 4.0; shifting tariffs; evolving regulations; the need for circularity – all time-sensitive pursuits, posing phenomenal pressures.

The industry has had to transform and must continue to do so at a merciless pace. 

Nobody knows this better than Markus Haupt, Interim CEO  and Vice President for Production and Logistics, SEAT & CUPRA. He’s been in his role since 2022 and, over the past three years, has overseen a dramatic evolution across SEAT’s brands and manufacturing.

“We are facing a huge transformation, not only in our industry but also in our home plant here in Martorell,” he explains. 

“We are transforming half of the plant from 100% combustion and electrified cars to 50% new BEV cars, the urban EVs.

“This is a big responsibility. We have to transform our facilities, we have to transform our people and develop the biggest training map of our history.” 

Central to this transformation is the electrification of SEAT’s vehicle fleet, with progress continuing at a lightning fast pace in the automaker’s country of origin: Spain. 

Putting Spain on electric wheels

This year, SEAT celebrates its 75th Anniversary. Founded in 1950, it was Spain’s first family car manufacturer, before growing into a global, design-driven industry leader. 

Famously the company that ‘put the nation on wheels’ after the devastation of the Spanish Civil war, SEAT is seeking today to drive another motor revolution: mass EV adoption. 

Through its “Future: Fast Forward” project in collaboration with the Volkswagen Group, SEAT is investing €10bn (US$10.8bn) in this future, which Markus describes as the biggest industrial project in Spain’s history. 

“We have two plants that have been converted to EVs, a battery cell plant in Sagunto that will come and lots of suppliers working with us,” he continues. 

On top of this, the company has introduced new EV models like the CUPRA Tavascan and the CUPRA DarkRebel digital show car, an envisionment of the future of the brand’s design that showcases the stylish and innovative future of EV’s.

Across these brands, it's clear this is not only a landmark project for automotive history but a deep part of the manufacturer’s commitment to Spanish society.

“We as an industry, especially at SEAT, are doing our homework,” Markus says. 

“We have two plants that have been converted to EVs, a battery cell plant in Sagunto that will come. We are committed to electrification. We know it's the future and we like to say there is no plan B for us.” 

In alignment with this, Markus believes the biggest responsibility SEAT has as an OEM, along with national governments, is to find a common way to incentivise EV production and purchases with aid and tax reductions, while fighting to establish vital infrastructure.

“We want to make the electrical experience a nice and positive reality for our customers,” he says.

“Looking at new technologies and digitalisation are key for us as manufacturers, but not only in the productive and manufacturing process, but also across other company processes.”

SEAT has pursued exactly this with the ‘CASA SEAT Declaration for the promotion of electric mobility in Spain,’ a joint agreement between the manufacturer, The Spanish Government and the Autonomous Communities of Catalonia, Comunitat Valenciana and Navarre to boost electric mobility. 

The commitment looks to address the common challenges with EV adoption – range anxiety, cost and charging infrastructure – that remain prominent across Europe, but particularly in Spain. 

“In Spain, it's even a bigger problem than in other countries in Europe,” Markus goes on.

“For example, the northern countries are much more developed on that topic than we are. But it affects in the end the whole of Europe and, later on, the rest of the world.”

To address these challenges SEAT is building a robust charging network across its facilities, with 250 chargers available and plans for further expansion. 

Right now, SEAT’s plant in Martorell has almost five times more chargers per electrified vehicle compared to the national charging network.

The Future: Fast Forward project also involves the development of battery gigafactory in Sagunto, which is enhancing EV accessibility and streamlining production costs.

SEAT’s historic Barcelona Zona Franca facility, which made mass motorisation possible for Spain back in the 1950s, lies at the heart of this EV innovation and is also being transformed into a circular economy hub.

Circular transformation at Zona Franca

At Zona Franca, SEAT has taken a circular approach to everything from parts and battery waste to energy use. 

“For example,” Markus explains, “we are using recycled materials for the cover of the cup bucket seats.

“Since 2010, we have reduced the waste in our industrial process by 79%, sending it to be recycled rather than disposed of. We will see much more of that in the future.”

This circular approach is informed both by the manufacturer’s sense of societal responsibility and the need to comply with EU regulation.

“In France, you already have to use 10% of reuse parts on aftermarket operations,” he says.

“But, as a manufacturer, we want to do more than just comply with rules; we want to go beyond and set our mark in terms of social responsibility within society.” 

SEAT is doing exactly that with its EV leadership, setting new records in terms of both social responsibility, sales and corporate growth.

The link between growth, competitiveness & technology

SEAT enjoyed its biggest year in terms of financial results in 2024. Despite the challenges plaguing the automotive industry last year, it also secured an impressive 75% growth in sales. 

But there’s no room for complacency. Record results bring record production pressures and Markus says the key to navigating this whilst increasing future competitiveness is investing in smart manufacturing technologies. 

This investment is especially prominent at the company’s Martorell factory, where innovation is shaping the future of the company’s newest models including the Leon and Formentor. 

“It's key to my role to maintain the competitiveness of our factories in the group,” Markus says. 

“We know that our biggest allies or tools are emerging digital technologies. This is the main lever we have to increase our competitiveness.”

This is evident in SEAT Zero Defect Vision project, a combined virtual reality and AI project that is being utilised in the manufacturer’s facilities to detect problems or defects. 

The project seeks to create a full end-to-end process for the whole construction process of vehicles, identifying defects and autocorrecting them without human intervention. This process, which occurs on a dedicated station, has since been extended to the assembly shop.

“Having digital twins or having AVASIM is helping our internal processes become faster and more competitive,” adds Markus. “ VR also helps a lot with bringing a car to a series. It's a huge job with many departments enrolled.

“Using VR makes everything faster so that we can optimise our products. Once we launch the product, it's already in a much better condition. AI as well is contributing to these processes.”

Markus highlights that SEAT is seeing growing potential with VR when it comes to quality control and replacing various forms of unnecessary labour. 

For example, in the paint shop, the manufacturer has built a vision machine capable of identifying and alerting teams to cosmetic defects on the surface of painted cars.

“It's very stressful for people to look at a car for eight hours, identify a problem, go back  in the process and try to find where the origin of the problem is,” Markus points out. 

“Making lots of manual analysis takes lots of effort and lots of time. AI also speeds up these processes, which enhances our competitiveness. Overall, we are able to find mistakes much faster and with greater accuracy.” 

In addition, SEAT has its Logistic Control Tower, a digital platform that connects the company with all its suppliers, beyond Tier 1 and 2. Markus explains this platform was created for two critical reasons.  

“First of all, we need to have transparency on our supply chain so we can anticipate and handle any disruptions or problems,” he concludes.

“We can then react fast enough, changing the production problem to avoid potential problems. This also enables us to streamline our approach to car production and our customers.”

Streamlining this approach is essential, as SEAT continues on its journey to electrify the Spanish automotive sector and beyond. 

Committed and coordinated, it has successfully navigated the myriad challenges facing its vertical whilst creating an inspiring foundation for ongoing and future growth and innovation.

To read the full article in the magazine, click HERE.

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