Wayne Griffiths, from the Montecarlo hotel to Barcelona’s Eixample. The president of Seat is in love with Barcelona and everything that the city emanates. He has drawn a lot of personal and professional inspiration from the city.
Wayne Griffiths (Dukinfield, England, 1966). He first landed in Barcelona in 1991 to work at Seat after starting at the Volkswagen Group in 1989. He lived through the Olympic Games, at the wheel of his red Seat Toledo. Today, 30 years later, he presides over the largest automobile company in Spain.
Things in life, upon arrival he stayed “in the old Hotel Montecarlo, it was March 1991 and it was cold, there were no people on the Ramblas.” Today, in the same place, are the offices of Seat CODE, the company’s software division . “If someone told me then that he would end up as president of Seat and with an office in that same place, I would have called him crazy.”
Barcelona has always attracted him. He has even rehabilitated an apartment in the Eixample. He went to Audi, but came back five years ago. He has always been drawn to the city . “It has enormous potential. It has light, design, youth, optimism . How many large European cities are by the sea? Very few.”
Rebellious and contemporary
Movie and music lover . Fan of Bowie and Almodovar (when he arrived in Barcelona they premiered ‘High heels’). His style is reflected in the Cupra brand. ” Rebel, I defy the conventional, I am contemporary . Like Cupra . I love design, you can see it (shows his jacket and sneakers).
I like to go to the Liceo, to the concerts of the Jardins de Pedralbes, when I was young I went out to party and then I went to have breakfast at the Palau de la Música to listen to the Barcelona Orchestra. Where is there something like this in the world? Nowhere . “
