Spain The electrification of Volkswagen and Seat will involve an investment of 10,000 million
Interview Wayne Griffiths: "I am a rebel with two causes: to transform Seat and launch Cupra"
Wayne Griffiths is the Protagonist of the Motor Gallery EL MUNDO 2021.
The British executive is the CEO of the Seat and Cupra brands.
He is also a member of the Board of Directors of Volkswagen España Group Distribución, which markets the Audi, Skoda, Volkswagen and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles brands in our country.
And since the beginning of this year, he has been the president of Anfac, the Spanish Association of Car and Truck Manufacturers.
Based in Barcelona,
he will receive this prestigious award on the 21st in Madrid,
as has happened with his illustrious predecessors.
Griffiths, born in Dukinfield (United Kingdom) in 1966, curiously succeeds Luca de Meo, current CEO of the Renault Group and who signed him for Seat in 2016. EL MUNDO's Leading the Motor Award was founded in 2006 and, Since then, it has been received by almost every major automotive executive in the world (see box below).
relationship with the car
With a slightly corseted image for what is fashionable among these managers -he prefers a leather jacket to a suit- Griffiths has been linked to the automobile world all his life.
His father had a car dealership and on weekends he helped clean and sell them. However,
he did not want to inherit the family business and after finishing his studies in International Management and German at the University of Leeds (United Kingdom), he accepted a internship at Audi AG in 1989.
That meant his entry into the gigantic German consortium, in which he has developed his entire professional career since then.
In it I could also mention a brief stint at Seat, between 1991 and 1993, to return to Audi, where he held various positions of responsibility in the commercial division in different markets.
In 2016 he signed as commercial vice president of Seat SA and was appointed to his current position in the fall of 2020.
Then, Herbert Diess, who was the boss of the VW group until the end of last July, defined him as "one of the best professionals in the company".
Cupra, the jewel in the crown
That mention recognized the work of Griffiths in previous years since, until the arrival of the coronavirus, Seat had increased its sales by 40% and became the fastest growing brand in Europe.
To this he adds that, in 2018, he was -along with De Meo- the founder of
Cupra, the sports brand destined to become the jewel in the crown in a very short time, contributing large volumes and profitability that consolidate the company and its two marks.
The plans are for it to
sell 500,000 cars by the middle of the decade, when in 2021 it finished with 80,000 cars.
Key to this will be its international expansion to other markets outside the EU, such as the US;
the entry into new virtual realities such as the metaverse
and, above all, the complete electrification of a range that will have up to seven models by 2025.
€10 billion
In the latter, Griffiths has the advantage of being at the center of the Future: Fast Forward project.
More than 60 companies from 11 communities are part of it, led by Volkswagen and Seat, and it aspires to mobilize an investment of 10,000 million euros, which would make it the largest of its kind in the industry.
This is a key step to guarantee the survival of the Spanish automobile sector, which is forced -as in other countries-
to turn towards zero-emission mobility, which will be unique from 2035.
To this end, the electrification of the Martorell factories is planned (Seat) and Landaben (Volkswagen), in addition to the start-up in Sagunto of the first of the battery gigafactories to be installed in Spain.
THE AUTOMOBILE EXECUTIVES WHO HAVE RECEIVED THIS AWARD
Carlos Goshan.
President of the Renault-Nissan Alliance.
Serge Marchionne
.
CEO of the Fiat Group.
Wendelin Wiedeking
.
Chairman of the Council Porsche SE.
Giorgietto Giugiario.
Founder of Ital Design.
Alan Mullaly.
CEO of Ford Motor Company.
Martin Winterkorn.
CEO of the Volkswagen Group.
Jose Vicente de los Mozos.
World Vice President of Renault and President of Renault Spain.
Norbert Reithofer
.
CEO of BMW AG.
Mary Barra.
CEO of General Motors.
Charles Tavares.
Executive President PSA Group.
Francisco J. Garcia Sanz.
World Vice President of VW and President of Seat.
Dieter Zestche.
Executive Chairman of Daimler AG.
Hakam Samuelson.
CEO Volvo Car Corporation.
Jose Munoz.
Global Chief Operating Officer of Hyundai Motor.
Luca de Meo.
CEO of Renault Group.
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