Seat and HAM to boost NGV sales in Spain

© SeatThis is not the first cooperation of a fuel distributor and a car manufacturer in Spain, so apparently this form of promotion works

Seat is Spain's only major carmaker and enjoys great popularity in its home country, so no wonder the six-fold sales hike rate is good news for the company. In fact, Seat sold more CNG-powered cars in the first six months of 2015 than in the entire 2014 and remains leader in the NGV segment with an 80% market share. To make things even better, the company signed an agreement with HAM to further promote use of compressed natural gas instead of conventional fuels.

Ramón Paredes, Vice-President for Government and Institutional Affairs for SEAT and the Volkswagen Group in Spain and Antonio Murugó, HAM Managing Director, made the commitment on behalf of their respective companies. It is aimed at improving air quality (one of the key advantages of CNG is reduced level of emissions, with virtually no particulate matter at all) and providing lower running costs (CNG is significantly cheaper than petrol and diesel). The objectives specified in the agreement will be implemented as soon as possible.

The first effect is already visible as HAM has launched Europe's largest natural gas filling station in Abrera, Spain. The station offers both liquefied (LNG) and compressed (CNG) natural gas, with four filling bays for each form of the fuel, for a total of eight. Diesel pumps are also featured. This is HAM's tenth natural gas supply point and the company owns and runs Spain's first corporate fleet of Seat Leon TGI cars, produced and purchased in 2014.

Seat’s commitment to sustainability is unwavering, and this reality is gradually moving into the markets where we operate. 66% of worldwide Seat sales and 80% of the sales in Spain are vehicles with CO₂ emissions below 120 g/km. From 2006 to 2014 we reduced the average CO₂ emissions by 21% on all the vehicles we sold in Europe. In addition, we are currently heavily engaged in developing CNG with a special focus on Spain.

Ramón Paredes, Vice-President for Government and Institutional Affairs for SEAT and the Volkswagen Group in Spain