New automobile gross sales in Spain surpass million-mark, sector going through robust 2025

By Javi West Larrañaga

(Reuters) – New automobile gross sales in Spain surpassed the a million mark in 2024 for the primary time for the reason that COVID-19 pandemic, knowledge confirmed on Thursday, however analysts and trade sources mentioned this shouldn’t be seen as an indication of restoration in a sector going through a troublesome 2025.

Altering developments in automobile utilization, excessive costs, uncertainty round electrical autos (EVs) and fierce competitors from Chinese language manufacturers are all anticipated to create challenges for the auto trade in Spain, mentioned Felipe Munoz, an analyst at market analysis agency JATO Dynamics.

New automobile gross sales in 2019 reached effectively over 1.3 million, however then slumped to round 900,000 yearly for the following 4 years. Although 2024’s 1.02 million gross sales symbolize a 7.1% improve year-on-year, they’re nonetheless far under the unique pattern.

Final 12 months’s rise was helped by an enormous 28.8% spike in year-on-year gross sales in December, the info confirmed.

Munoz mentioned the uptick appeared transitory, as new automobile gross sales had didn’t correctly take off after the pandemic clobbered demand, including: “I do not suppose (the Spanish automobile market) will ever hit these numbers once more.”

In line with Munoz, after the semiconductor shortage disaster, European automobile producers targeted on rising their costs at the price of promoting fewer models – and nonetheless made document income.

“That technique labored completely for them till this 12 months, when Chinese language manufacturers began to penetrate the market extra efficiently in Europe, and so they realised their costs have been too excessive as compared,” he added.

Spanish automobile half producer Gestamp was much less affected by a drop in automobile gross sales in Spain and Europe attributable to its geographic diversification, CFO Ignacio Mosquera mentioned, however extra needed to be achieved to assist an ailing sector that lacked a transparent coverage in “one of the crucial vital trade overhauls in historical past”.

“If there is no public-private partnership, there’s uncertainty in demand and other people do not know which automobile to purchase. Confronted with that call, what do they do? They lengthen the lifetime of their automobile,” Mosquera mentioned – thus lowering gross sales.

Echoing that sentiment, the pinnacle of Spanish automobile half producers’ affiliation Sernauto, Jose Portilla, mentioned extra state assist was wanted to encourage the sale of EVs.

“If we’re capable of increase the recharging infrastructure, EVs change into extra inexpensive, and the subsidies are given on the time of buy as an alternative of one-and-a-half or two years later. This can encourage the market way more and we’ll be capable to redirect this case,” Portilla added.