► Griffiths leaves Seat after almost five years
► Oversaw successful launch of Cupra
► Griffiths recently said he was ‘all in until end of his career’ at Seat
Seat and Cupra boss Wayne Griffiths has suddenly stepped down from the company after almost five years at the helm, according to a statement from the Spanish carmaker.
In a statement, Seat said Griffiths had ‘decided to leave the company at his own request on March 31 to pursue new challenges.’
Manchester-born Griffiths became CEO of Seat and Cupra in October 2020, taking the top job after leading the firms’ sales and marketing teams since 2016. Before then he held several executive positions at Audi.
Volkswagen boss Thomas Schäfer, who also serves as Seat and Cupra’s charman of the board, said: ‘Wayne Griffiths has done a great job in building the Cupra brand and restructuring the company. His understanding of the brand is remarkable. He is, in the best sense, a true car guy. We thank him for his excellent contribution and wish him all the best for the future.’
While launched in late 2018 as a standalone brand, Cupra came to fruition late in 2020 with the introduction of the Formentor coupe-crossover, launched at a similar time when Griffiths became CEO.
Since then he has overseen the launch of the Born, Terramar and Tavascan, with the firm gearing up to reveal the Raval as a small electric hot hatchback at September’s Munich motor show. Seat as a whole has lead the development for the Volkswagen Group’s smallest EVs, including the VW ID.2, also due later this year.
Griffiths’ shock departure comes just a few weeks after he made some interesting remarks when asked if he would continue in his position past 2030, when Cupra is planning to launch in the US, saying he was ‘all in’ until the end of his career.
Speaking to journalists at Seat and Cupra’s annual media conference earlier in March, Griffiths said: ‘I’ve always said this company is my destiny, I’m all in until the end of my career. How much of that I can decide or how much of that is decided for me, you never know when you’re at the top of a company.
‘But for me personally, this is my dream job, I don’t have any other plans and as long as we’re successful and we deliver then we will continue and I’d love to be around when we launch the Cupra brand in the US. Less than that is making sure we make the decisions to make Cupra, Seat and this company successful in the next decade, that depends on me and that’s what I’m going to focus my attention on doing.’
Seat has confirmed that Markus Haupt, current production and logistics boss at the firm, will be taking over as interim leader while a successor is found. There is no word on whether Griffiths has accepted a new job, or if he is staying within the Volkswagen Group, which he has worked for since 1989.