Carmakers have always been a relevant
part of the life of each country, historically, economically and socially
speaking, and they tend to represent the development, and even the character of
their citizens. Spain underwent critical changes in the second part of the last
century, and its principal carmaker represents accurately this evolution.
SEAT (Sociedad Española de Automóviles de
Turismo) was founded in 1950. Its first stakeholders were the Spanish
Government (51%), seven Spanish banks (42%) and FIAT, who owned a 7% of the
share capital, as a technological partner.
FIAT deeply influenced SEAT; even the acronym
SEAT is the Spanish equivalent of FIAT, which stands for “Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino”. Nevertheless, decisions were
taken from Madrid, something that, as we will see, FIAT would regret. Back
then, it was the custom that technological partners did not take part in the
decision-making. This is easy to understand, since the Spanish Government
leaded by Franco, wanted SEAT to represent the development and progress of
Spain, in a time when the country was politically isolated and still pulling
itself together from the not-so-distant Civil War.
The parts were built in Italy, and shipped to
the factories of Zona Franca, in Barcelona, where they were assembled as SEAT.
They were mostly outdated models, allowing FIAT to sell them in the
international market, and, simultaneously, hindering the possibilities of
internationalization of the Spanish manufacturer. Later on, as a result of the
experience gained, the whole production of the engines and chassis took place
in Spain, as well as some Italian models which were subsequently exported to
Italy.
This technological partnership was not even exclusive, since FIAT
licensed some of their model to FSO, a Polish car-maker.
Years went by, and democracy was established, as well as a heavy set of
economic measures which affected directly the industrial sector. This implied
that the Spanish Government had to get rid of their share in SEAT, and make it a
company owned by private shareholders. After such a long partnership, FIAT was
expected to purchase it, and both parties agreed for a take-over in the summer
of 1980.
But in May 1980, when the managers of FIAT
were granted permission to audit the financial statements of the company,
previously to the purchase, they were surprised to find a 120-million-euro
debt, which came from the Franco-administration, when the accounts were balanced
according to political reasons and were unaware of external audits. When the
Agnelli family knew about this, they flew from Torino to Madrid in their
Dassault Falcon 20 and personally back out from the purchase contract. As a
result, the Italians sold their share to the Spanish Government for the
symbolic price of 1 peseta (0,006€).
But such an operation in cannot be completed overnight. In order to make
the transition easier to SEAT, and avoid letting them without technology, a new
contract was signed, stating that SEAT was allowed to produce and export FIAT
cars, as long as they were facelifted and modified, in both the interior and
the external panels, that is, transformed into SEAT, at least esthetically. Thus, the FIAT Ritmo became a SEAT Ronda, as a
good example of this situation.
This was the ultimate evidence; the
parts in yellow are the ones that were renovated by SEAT. The tribunal
considered that the changes were significant and the claim was dismissed. The brilliant move executed by the Spanish lawyers is studied today in business schools specialized in IP.
After the Italians bailed out, the Spanish Government was the principal
shareholder, as opposed to their original porpoises of privatizing the company.
Finally, they were able to sell it in 1986 to Volkswagen.
