The Cupra Terramar wins the Moveo Car of the Year award from ‘La Vanguardia’

The Cupra Terramar has won the Moveo Car of the Year award from The Vanguard. The new sports SUV from Seat’s premium brand has won over the other nine finalist models thanks to the online votes of the newspaper’s readers (they weigh 40%) and the criteria of a jury of experts.

Carlos Godó, CEO of Grupo Godó, presented the award tonight to Víctor Sarasola, commercial director of Cupra Spain, at a gala held at the Monteverdi club, sponsored by MAPFRE, Santander and Moeve.

This is one of the distinctions awarded in the Moveo awards, which are now in their fifth edition and have become a benchmark and a key meeting point for the automotive industry and new forms of mobility.

The Moveo Awards gala was held at the Monteverdi club, with the sponsorship of MAPFRE, Santander and Moeve

As a novelty, this year a new award has been created, called Internationalization, to highlight those initiatives or ideas that seek to improve the mobility of people beyond our borders. This category is added to the existing ones: Car of the Year, Sustainability, Innovation and Characters of the Year.

The awards gala, hosted by Màrius Carol, was attended by numerous personalities related to the motor sector, which represents 10% of the national GDP and employs 9% of the active population. Likewise, the participation of the Minister of Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu, and the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez Almeida, stood out. The director of The VanguardJordi Juan, was also in charge of delivering one of the distinctions.

The group’s CEO, Carlos Godó, highlighted in his opening speech that, despite the rapid changes that have occurred in the global automotive landscape, such as the pressure to reduce emissions, new engine technologies or the competition with Chinese manufacturers, “the automotive industry has always known how to react and adapt.” The industry has shown its “commitment to the need to protect the environment, efficiency and sustainability,” stated the counselor. “The sector needs stability to plan and now faces a moment of high volatility. You are a strategic industry for Spain and for Europe and therefore, it is necessary that circumstances be created so that you can have the ability to plan for the long term and face the future,” he concluded.

For his part, the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez Almeida, has praised the vocation of The Vanguard to “generate extraordinarily relevant debates” such as those that occur within the automotive industry. “We have to be proud of the automotive business and industrial fabric, which has endured decades adapting to the changing demands of society, even before the administrations addressed them.” The mayor has pointed out that mobility is key in large cities, highlighting the effort that Madrid has made in terms of promoting public transport, which already transports 1.5 million citizens and is “the first capital in Europe where there is no traffic.” no diesel bus.”

Minister Hereu was responsible for closing the Moveo awards gala, an event that he chose last year as his first public event after collecting the Industry and Tourism portfolio and which he recalled in his speech. Hereu recalled the weight of the automotive industry in the Spanish economy, “a very important and very internationalized sector” with 44,000 million in export value and 17 factories in the territory. “It has a great weight in the economy, in my agenda and in public policies,” he stated, recalling that they have dedicated 1,700 million euros to the PERTE plans for the automotive industry and another 2,000 million to the MOVES plans to stimulate automobile sales. electric car.

The minister paid tribute to the DANA victims in Valencia and to the industry, for their resilience and attitude. He has stated that, although they cannot recover the victims, they are going to make an effort to launch an aid plan, in collaboration with the sector associations Anfac and Faconauto, to recover the 120,000 vehicles lost due to the storm.

Car of the Year Award

Cupra Terramar

Cupra is a groundbreaking brand with sporty SUV style models that are achieving great results in sales, with 650,000 units delivered in the first half of the year around the world. In just six years, it has established itself as one of the most successful firms within the Volkswagen group.

The virtues of the Terramar have earned it the title Moveo Car of the Year 2024. It is a medium-sized SUV, with an attractive design, large doses of technology and a mechanical range made up of gasoline, mild hybrid and plug-in hybrid versions. Its name pays tribute to the legendary Terramar racing circuit, located in Sitges (Barcelona).

Characters of the year

Paula Fabregat and Pepe Martí

It took Renault president Luca de Meo two seconds to fall in love with the new Renault 5 when he saw it for the first time. And if its design could speak, it would have a woman’s voice and it would do so in Spanish, because behind its strokes is Paula Fabregat, Renault design director for the B and C segments. Under her leadership, updates to the Clio models have also been born, Mégane, Captur, Arkana or Twingo and the new Renault 4. For all of this he has received the Character of the Year award.

The other winner in this category, for his leadership in the sport, was Pepe Martí, the great promise of Spanish motorsport. At only 19 years old, he competes in F2 with Campos Racing and Red Bull Junior Team and stands out for his great record of achievements. At just 17 years old, he won his first race in F3, at the Bahrain circuit. Their goal is to reach F1 and for that, 2025 will be key.

Internationalization Award

Renfe

The Moveo awards have distinguished the internationalization of Renfe, which has expanded the operation of high-speed services outside of Spain. The company has created a new company to develop international business, with access to new markets and project management in the implementation phase. The long-term objective is that, in 2028, 10% of its income comes from abroad. Internationalization, innovation and customer focus are the three fundamental pillars of its transformation process.

In Europe, Renfe seeks to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the liberalization process that is taking place in the sector and, at the same time, maintains its focus on the large railway projects that are being developed in America and Asia.

Sustainability Award

Hyundai and Royal Spanish Automobile Federation

Hyundai has been in Spain for 32 years and has just celebrated a new milestone: the sale of 1.2 million units in our country. But what makes it worthy of this award is the fact that more than half of the cars it registers are electrified. Specifically, this year they represent 52% of the total. Sales of this type of vehicle amount to 136,907 units sold since 2016, when the brand launched the Ioniq range on the market. Hyundai is the first brand that has managed to have models for sale with five electrified technologies, including a hydrogen one, the Hyundai Nexo.

The launch of the Spanish Alternative Energy Championship (CEEA) has earned the Royal Spanish Automobile Federation the sustainability award for promoting a competition in which the protagonists are electric and hybrid vehicles. Sports competitions are the best showcase for new technologies and these events help users better understand low-emission vehicles, their possibilities and their future, in addition to attesting to the automotive sector’s commitment to reducing emissions in all its dimensions.

Innovation Award

Stellar, Audi and Lexus

Stellantis’ leadership in decarbonization and emissions reduction has earned it this award. Your plan Dare Forward 2030 aims to position the French automobile company as an industry leader in climate change mitigation, reaching zero net carbon emissions by 2038, with a 50% reduction by 2030. As part of that leadership, they set a goal of 100% of sales in Europe and 50% of sales in the United States will be battery electric vehicles (BEVs) by the end of this decade. They aim to achieve global annual BEV sales of five million vehicles by 2030.

For its part, Audi, also distinguished in the Innovation category, has been supporting creativity among young people for a decade with a competition, Creativity Challenge, in which it rewards innovative projects aimed at improving the future of our society. The brand with the four rings has renewed this commitment to young people, with a new platform, Audicrea, which groups its social and educational initiatives around this topic. The new Audicrea will encompass three large-scale projects: the Audicrea Challenge competition; the Audicrea Start project incubator and Audicrea Academy, for teachers.

Lexus Art Car is the Lexus Spain project that has been awarded by the Moveo awards and that reaffirms the brand’s commitment to the world of art for its ability to make us feel unique emotions. In this national competition, with an international final, artists have to capture a work based on the values ​​of the vehicle itself on a Lexus NX as a canvas and with free technique.