VW Storm Circles Spanish Carmaker Seat After Seven Losing Years
- Seat had $1.5 billion in losses from 2008 through last year
- Former Audi sales chief De Meo will lead struggling unit
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Volkswagen AG has stood by Spanish carmaker Seat through years of losses. Now the spreading emissions scandal tests Chief Executive Officer Matthias Mueller’s resolve to make unpopular cuts.
Long one of the weakest links among Volkswagen’s dozen brands, Seat fell back to a 40 million-euro ($42.9 million) deficit in the third quarter after a profitable first half. In seven straight years of negative results, it racked up a deficit of 1.39 billion euros. Several of its models are near-duplicates of cars sold by other Volkswagen marques.