The employer Faconauto does not foresee a clear recovery in sales and urges the government to take back the initiative to boost the sector
The president of Faconauto, Gerardo Pérez, confirmed this Tuesday that 15 million vehicles “will have to disappear” and that the Spaniards will have to take them “to the scrap heap” in order to comply with environmental obligations with the European Union that will not be driving in 2050 more vehicles with combustion engines (from 2035 it will not be possible to sell diesel, petrol or hybrid vehicles, according to the agreement between the European Council, the Parliament and the European Commission). At the current pace of sales, “there won’t be time to change them,” the dealers’ president stressed. While electric car sales have accelerated (they’re set to grow about 28% this year), they should be rising between 800% and 1,000% per year. Pérez explained that only 9% of sales are electric cars, the other 91% have an internal combustion engine, even though they are hybrids and have low emissions. The employers’ organization of car dealers expects sales to grow by only 5% next year and to remain stuck at 870,000 vehicles. At this rate, “it’s mathematically impossible” to decarbonise the parking lot, Pérez said.
In fact, according to Faconauto, employment is not sustainable with that level of sales. Spanish dealers currently work 152,000 people, 12,000 fewer than six years ago, but to create jobs they would have to sell at least a million units, the president of Faconauto explained during a meeting with the media. This year, between 820,000 and 830,000 will be sold, depending on how the last days of December evolve; until the 18th, the market was down 28%. In the short term, dealers do not expect the problems of lack of inventory to be solved by the shortage of microprocessors that hinder production. In addition, the price of fuel and of the vehicles themselves will continue to determine purchasing decisions. However, if production bottlenecks are resolved and the war between Russia and Ukraine ends, it could reach 960,000 units sold by 2023.
Gerardo Pérez called on the government to “take back the initiative now” to promote a sector that employs two million people and to convene the Automotive Roundtable. “We have to look at how we can renew the fleet within the consumer’s possibilities,” he added, clarifying that even with the same price, most consumers would choose the electric car as long as it does not have enough autonomy “of more than a thousand kilometers”, is charged “in seven minutes” and there are enough charging points. It therefore demanded that the current design of incentives for zero-emission vehicles be supplemented by others for the purchase of new and used vehicles for up to one year, taking into account CO2 emissions and the eco-label, and that public support be accelerated through a tax deductions in order not to depend on the management of the autonomous communities, as some take more than a year to pay. Likewise, he demanded that dealers be involved in the negotiations on the electric vehicle’s PERTE “if we want it to serve to electrify the country and not just produce and export.”
Source: La Verdad
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
