SEAT's Luca De Meo Named CEO Of The Year

• Luca de Meo has more than 25 years of expertise in the automotive industry

• The award will be presented in the framework of the Frankfurt Motor Show in September

MARTORELL, Spain - September 4, 2017: SEAT President Luca de Meo has been singled out by Automotive News Europe magazine as CEO of the Year in the Car Division category of its Eurostars Awards. This is a recognition of his tenure at the helm of SEAT, when the brand returned to profitability. The award will be presented on 11 September, coinciding with the imminent celebration of the Frankfurt Motor Show.

With more than 25 years’ experience in the automotive sector, Luca de Meo has been the President of SEAT since November 2015. Under his leadership, the company is undergoing the biggest product offensive in the history of the brand with the launch of four new models (Ateca, Leon, Ibiza and Arona) in 18 months. The extension and renewal of the range is boosting sales above 13% in 2017 and places SEAT as one of the fastest growing brands in Europe. In addition, and after posting the best financial results in its history in 2016, in the first half of this year the company’s operating profit grew by 40.9%.

When he was notified of the award, the President of SEAT commented: “I am deeply grateful. It is an honor to receive this distinction from such a prestigious publication as Automotive News Europe and to be added to the list of outstanding automotive executives who have been given this recognition in recent years”. Luca de Meo, who received this same award in 2007, and in 2014 in the Sales & Marketing Executive category, underlined that “today’s award has been possible thanks to the great team at SEAT. The results we are beginning to achieve are the outcome of the joint efforts to move the brand forward where it deserves to be."

Automotive News, a global automotive industry business information leader, created its European division in 1996. Two years later, in 1998, it began presenting the Eurostars Awards to recognize the most relevant European leaders of the moment in the automotive sector.

Successful professional career Born in Milan in 1967, Luca de Meo received a degree in Business Administration from the city’s Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi. His thesis on business ethics was the first dissertation on this subject in Italy. He joined the Volkswagen Group in 2009 as Marketing Director of the Volkswagen brand and of the Volkswagen Group after beginning his career at Renault, followed by Toyota and the Fiat Group, where he headed the Lancia, Fiat, Alfa Romeo and Abarth brands. In 2013, Harvard University dedicated a case study to him for his work in the Volkswagen Group as Marketing Director.

Thanks to his distinguished career, Luca de Meo received the honorary title of “commendatore” by the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, one of the country’s highest national distinctions. Currently, in addition to spearheading SEAT, he also presides over the SEAT Metropolis:Lab Barcelona and is a member of the Board of Directors of Ducati.

SEAT is the only company that designs, develops, manufactures and markets cars in Spain. A member of the Volkswagen Group, the multinational has its headquarters in Martorell (Barcelona), exporting 81% of its vehicles, and is present in over 80 countries through a network of 1,700 dealerships. In 2016, SEAT obtained an operating profit of 143 million euros, the highest in the history of the brand, and achieved worldwide sales of nearly 410,000 vehicles.

SEAT Group employs more than 14,500 professionals at its three production centres – Barcelona, El Prat de Llobregat and Martorell, where it manufactures the highly successful Ibiza and Leon. Additionally, the company produces the Ateca and the Toledo in the Czech Republic, the Alhambra in Portugal and the Mii in Slovakia.

The multinational has a Technical Centre, which operates as a knowledge hub that brings together 1,000 engineers who are focussed on developing innovation for Spain’s largest industrial investor in R&D. SEAT already features the latest connectivity technology in its vehicle range and is currently engaged in the company’s global digitization process to promote the mobility of the future.