The multimodal platform model that the Seat automobile company has promoted in recent years has lost a leg with the closure announced this Tuesday of the shared motorcycle service in Barcelona. The Volkswagen group company justified the cessation of activities in the Catalan capital “due to the high operating costs and the lack of profitability of this service.”
The project that started in 2020 will cease to be operational as of March 1. The company added yesterday that “Seat will continue working to offer mobility options adapted to the current needs of the market,” without giving more details.
In August 2020, Seat launched its service called SEAT MÓ, which started with 632 electric motorcycles. At that time, the objective of the project – as detailed by the company – was to promote a new type of urban mobility. The motorcycles used are electric with the Seat brand but manufactured by the company Silence, in which the construction company Acciona has a stake.
The service was accessible through an application installed on the mobile phone. In addition to the shared motorcycle service, designed for specific use of the vehicle, Seat offered “an all-inclusive subscription model that allows access to the motorcycle for weeks or months, including vehicle insurance, maintenance, a helmet and a change.” of weekly battery”, all of this “with no obligation to stay”.
The cost of the subscription when the service started was 75 euros per week, 200 per month or 450 for three months.
The new strategy of the automobile company to offer mobility services and not just sell cars includes – in addition to the shared motorcycle program that is now closed – the sale of electric scooters and the Seat brand motorcycles themselves.
The company sent a statement to customers yesterday detailing that the service can be used until February 29 and that unspent amounts will be returned to the card that was used to subscribe to the service. With Seat’s decision, more than 600 shared motorcycle licenses are released in Barcelona.
In 2023, Seat recorded the second highest sales volume in its history by delivering 519,200 cars, 34.6% more than the previous year. Cupra has once again broken records with 230,700 deliveries, 50.9% more than in 2022
