Griffiths: "Our cars contribute to recovering the pride of being from Barcelona"

High-profile celebration and handover at CASA SEAT on the occasion of its third anniversary. The emblematic facility, located at the confluence of Paseo de Gràcia and Diagonal, opened its doors in the midst of the pandemic in June 2020, and, since then, it has received 450,000 visitors and hosted more than 700 events, among which the series The New Barcelona-Moments Estel·lars, organized by The New Barcelona Post, stands out.

"CASA SEAT has managed to integrate into the social, economic, and cultural life of Barcelona, and has become a key player in its reactivation after the pandemic," highlighted the CEO of SEAT and CUPRA, Wayne Griffiths, on Tuesday night during the celebration party, announcing the appointment of journalist Cristina Vall-Llosada as the new general director of the complex. The until now head of Corporate Communication for the Seat Group will replace Gabriele Palma, who has led the project since it began to be conceived five years ago.

According to Griffiths, the Italian executive has been promoted and will now assume new responsibilities in the company's Corporate Operations team. "Without Gabriele, this success would not have been possible; I want to express my enormous gratitude for his work. CASA SEAT begins a new era today under the leadership of Cristina Vall-Llosada. We are proud of these three years, and we still have a long way to go. With Cristina at the helm, CASA SEAT is in the best hands," emphasized the German executive.

During his speech before more than 200 guests from Barcelona's civil, institutional, and business society, Wayne Griffiths lavished praise on the Catalan capital and asserted the role that Cupra is playing internationally to promote the city's brand image thanks to the commercial slogan "inspiring the world from Barcelona." "We have named two emblematic neighborhoods of Barcelona, Born and Raval, after two of our cars," recalled the CEO of the automotive company, after highlighting that the new Cupra Raval will be the first electric car to be manufactured at the Martorell plant.

"I am a big fan of the Raval neighborhood and its contrasts; it is one of the neighborhoods in the city that has surprised me the most and shows that at Cupra we like to be rebellious," explained Griffiths. He also stated that he feels very connected to and is very knowledgeable about Born, where he found his first apartment in Barcelona.

At this point, Griffiths highlighted that the group has just launched the Cupra brand in Australia and that now the management committee is analyzing taking it to the United States as well. "With our cars, we want to help restore the pride of being from Barcelona," he stated. The energetic executive emphasized that "Cupra is a global brand created with the DNA of this city" and that it has "ambition" to be a world leader in electric mobility. "We are betting on this city, we are very proud to be from here and, therefore, we hope that Barcelona, as a city, will also bet on us," he stressed.

"We are betting on this city, we are very proud to be from here and, therefore, we hope that Barcelona, as a city, will also bet on us"

"We are going to invest 10,000 million to electrify mobility in Spain; the country has the opportunity to be a European leader in electric mobility. With the small car that we will manufacture in Martorell, we are going to democratize this new mobility; we want to be the solution and not the problem," he stressed, after asking for greater support from the Administrations. "We need them to support us and not demonize the sustainable and made in Barcelona electric car," concluded Griffiths.

The evening featured a performance by pianist Marco Mezquida, who presented two of the tracks from Charming Carmen, an album recorded entirely at CASA SEAT and which pays homage to the piano in the center's auditorium, a centenary Steinway & Sons, as it was manufactured in New York in 1923.

The big surprise of the night, however, was the appearance of the Muñoz brothers, members of the duo Estopa, who sang some of their most emblematic songs and recalled that they began writing their first songs when they worked for one of Seat's suppliers in Abrera.

The night continued with a dinner enlivened by DJ Andreu Presas, where guests could enjoy freshly cut Iberian ham offered by Enrique Tomás and the anniversary cake created by Christian Escribà and Patricia Schmidt. Javier de las Muelas was in charge of designing the cocktail served for the final toast.

Vall-Llosada, an expert in corporate communication

The new director of CASA SEAT, Cristina Vall-Llosada, has a degree in Communication and Public Relations and has developed her professional career in different communication consultancies, among which Porter Novelli (Omnicom Group) stands out, of which she was director of the Barcelona delegation. In December 2010, she joined SEAT as head of strategic corporate communication, leading projects related to electromobility, connectivity and digitalization. in 2016, Vall-Llosada was appointed head of Corporate Communication of the company.

"I am very happy that Cristina has accepted the challenge of leading CASA SEAT after so many years by my side, advising me on communication and saving my reputation so many times...", said Wayne Griffiths, amused, after wishing her "good luck" in her new stage.