Notably the brand bucked the trend in Western Europe, where its 9.4% increase puts it among the fastest growing brands in Europe. In total SEAT sold 273,200 vehicles in Western Europe in 2013, 23,500 more than in 2012.

SEAT chairman Jürgen Stackmann said that ‘the company is having sales momentum, particularly in Europe, where SEAT is growing faster than the competition in a contracting market’.

In its biggest market, Germany, SEAT delivered 76,600 vehicles, a 20.3% increase over the previous year.

In Spain, SEAT returned to positive performance figures and increased sales by 6.0% (58,900 cars), above the market average.

In the UK, its third-largest market, the Spanish brand enjoyed its fifth successive year of growth (16.8%), with more than 45,300 sales; the highest that SEAT UK has ever achieved in a year.  

SEAT also closed 2013 with record sales in other markets like Switzerland (8,300 units; up 5.2%) and Denmark (6,300; up 37.6%), alongside other European markets.

The carmaker said its positive performance in Europe was down to the Leon, of which more than 102,000 units have been sold worldwide, a 44.4% increase.

SEAT also seized opportunities outside Europe; thanks to 13.0% growth, almost one of every five vehicles SEAT built in 2013 was sold outside of Europe (64,600 units). So, for the first time, SEAT has three non-European countries amongst its top ten: Mexico (5th), Algeria (6th) and Turkey (8th).

In Algeria, where SEAT already quadrupled its sales in 2012, it continued to grow last year, by 26.9%, and concluded 2013 with 20,500 units sold. The big novelty for 2013 was Turkey, where sales almost doubled (90.4%) with the brand marketing 11,100 units. SEAT ended 2013 with the highest sales figures in its history for both these countries. In Mexico SEAT grew for the fourth successive year (0.4%), sales totalling 21,200 units.

‘In 2014, in spite of the still-persisting difficulties in the economic environment, we intend to continue working hard to make constant progress. We have a fantastic product range which will continue to grow around the Leon family, the heart of the SEAT brand,’ declared chairman Jürgen Stackmann.