SEPTEMBER 11, 2000
The sporting future of Seat
The interesting question is what SEAT will now do. The firm is now under the control of former BMW boss Bernd Pischetsrieder, a big Formula 1 fan, and it is possible that he may be pushing hard for the company to involve itself in Grand Prix racing as a way of increasing sales around the world and improving its image of being a low-cost, low-quality car company. Spanish influence in F1 has been growing steadily in recent years and the importance of the Spanish-speaking audiences of LatinÊAmerica should not be overlooked.
Pischetsrieder was the force behind the current BMW Formula 1 program with Williams and it may be that now he has a new job, he will try to convince the Volkswagen management that F1 is a good move to promote one of the VW brands.