The SEAT Málaga is a four-door saloon produced by the Spanish

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 automaker

Automotive industry

The automotive industry designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells motor vehicles, and is one of the world's most important economic sectors by revenue....

 SEAT

SEAT

SEAT, S.A. is a Spanish automobile manufacturer founded on May 9, 1950 by the Instituto Nacional de Industria , a state-owned industrial holding company....

 from 1985 to 1992, named after the city of Málaga

Málaga

Málaga is a city and a municipality in the Autonomous Community of Andalusia, Spain. With a population of 568,507 in 2010, it is the second most populous city of Andalusia and the sixth largest in Spain. This is the southernmost large city in Europe...

 in Andalucía, southern Spain.

It can be considered a saloon variant of the SEAT Ronda

SEAT Ronda

The SEAT Ronda is a small family car produced by the Spanish automaker SEAT from 1982 to 1986, and styled by Rayton Fissore in collaboration with the Technical Centre in Martorell...

 hatchback

Hatchback

A Hatchback is a car body style incorporating a shared passenger and cargo volume, with rearmost accessibility via a rear third or fifth door, typically a top-hinged liftgate—and features such as fold-down rear seats to enable flexibility within the shared passenger/cargo volume. As a two-box...

, which had been launched three years earlier before the Málaga. The underpinnings of the Málaga were indeed based upon those of the SEAT Ronda, a restyled version of the SEAT Ritmo which in its turn was a rebadged

Badge engineering

Badge engineering is an ironic term that describes the rebadging of one product as another...

 version of the Fiat Ritmo

Fiat Ritmo

The Fiat Ritmo is an automobile from the Italian manufacturer Fiat, launched in 1978. Styled by Bertone of Italy, it was seen by some as the most distinctive looking small family car in Europe on its launch in 1978 Turin Motorshow. It was badged in Great Britain and North America as the Fiat Strada...

. In this sense the Málaga most closely resembled the Fiat Regata

Fiat Regata

The Fiat Regata is the saloon version of the Fiat Ritmo small family car, produced by Italian automaker Fiat. It was produced from 1983 to 1990, corresponding to the post-facelift Ritmo. The Regata had a choice of three gasoline and two diesel engines...

, Fiat

Fiat

FIAT, an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino , is an Italian automobile manufacturer, engine manufacturer, financial, and industrial group based in Turin in the Italian region of Piedmont. Fiat was founded in 1899 by a group of investors including Giovanni Agnelli...

's own saloon version of the Fiat Ritmo hatchback. However the development of the SEAT Málaga and the Fiat Regata saloon cars from SEAT and Fiat respectively had been separate, as the two manufacturers had already ended their partnership by the time of the launch of their two saloon models.

The SEAT Málaga production ended in 1992 well after the Volkswagen Group

Volkswagen Group

Volkswagen Group is a German multinational automobile manufacturing group. , Volkswagen was ranked as the world’s third largest motor vehicle manufacturer and Europe's largest....

 took over SEAT, to be replaced from its successor, the SEAT Córdoba

SEAT Córdoba

The first generation SEAT Córdoba was presented at the 1993 Frankfurt Motor Show and launched in the summer of the same year, penned by Italian designer Giorgetto Giugiaro and based on the chassis of the SEAT Ibiza Mk2 which would spawn the Volkswagen Polo Mk3 the following year.Its 1.4, 1.6, 1.8...

, which was launched at the end of 1993. The Málaga sold relatively well in Spain, but did poorly in export markets, despite sharing the same System Porsche powertrain

Powertrain

In a motor vehicle, the term powertrain or powerplant refers to the group of components that generate power and deliver it to the road surface, water, or air. This includes the engine, transmission, drive shafts, differentials, and the final drive...

 with the SEAT Ibiza

SEAT Ibiza

The SEAT Ibiza is a car in the European supermini class, constructed by the Spanish car maker SEAT S.A., is SEAT's best-selling car and perhaps the most popular model in the Spanish firm's range....

.

In the UK, Daily Telegraph journalist Neil Lyndon

Neil Lyndon

Neil Alexander Lyndon is a British journalist and writer who has written for every "quality" newspaper in Britain. Lyndon's 1992 book, "No More Sex War: The Failures of Feminism" was the world's first radical, egalitarian, and progressive critique of the subject...

 ran a Málaga as a long term test car for 12 months. He praised its versatility and actually drove it to Málaga and back, dubbing it the "spiritual successor to the SEAT Ritmo".

The Málaga was marketed in Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

 as the SEAT Gredos, after the Spanish mountain range Sierra de Gredos

Sierra de Gredos

The Sierra de Gredos is a mountain range in the centre of the Iberian Peninsula, located between Ávila, Cáceres, Madrid and Toledo. It has been declared a regional park. Its highest point is Pico Almanzor, at 2,592 metres....

, because the word Málaga was considered very similar to a ubiquitous Greek

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

 swear word, i.e. Malakas

Malakas

Malakas is a Greek slang word, whose literal translation is wanker but the usage of the term varies. Common alternative meanings include arsehole or jerk, and the contrasting dude, or mate depending on the context. It derives from the Greek word malakos , which means "soft" or "spoilt, well-used to...

External links

• SEAT.com official corporate website