Nearly two thirds (63.6%) of the 25.34 million vehicles circulating on Spain’s roads are more than ten years old and 57% use a diesel engine, according to data corresponding to 2021 published by the European Association of Automobile Manufacturers (ACEA).
The figures also indicate that the average car park age in Spain in 2021 was 13.5 years (although it is currently estimated to be around 14 years), that 20.11% of cars (5.09 million units) was equal to or less than five years old and that 16.24% (4.11 million) were between five and ten years old.
According to the Anfac Manufacturers Association, about 1.4 cars over 10 years old have been sold for every newly registered car in the past year, diverting the market to older, more polluting vehicles, delaying fleet renovation and fulfillment of the decarbonisation objectives.
As for the DGT labeled fleet, those with Label 0 have experienced a remarkable growth of 71.7%, with a total of 162,071 units, while those with ECO Label vehicles have increased by 40.11%. However, this type of vehicle represents only 0.54% and 2.7% respectively of the total Spanish vehicle fleet.
However, in 2021, 31.5% of light vehicles (cars and light commercial vehicles) in Spain had a B label and 33.2% had no label. These vehicles are responsible for 91.4% of pollutant NOx emissions and 92.7% of particulate emissions.
In this sense, the car park with the highest percentage of vehicles older than ten years in Europe is Romania, with 86.65% of the total, while Greece takes second place, with 83.82%, and Poland closes the podium, with 80, 55%.
Conversely, Luxembourg registered the lowest percentage of vehicles older than ten years (25.13%), followed by Belgium (34.1%) and Denmark (35.1%).
In the main European car markets, the percentage of vehicles older than ten years is 58.98% in Italy, 51.33% in France, 43.33% in Germany and 41.58% in the United Kingdom.
By engine type in Spain in 2021, 56.9% of vehicles were diesel, while 39.5% used petrol and only 0.3% used pure electric. Plug-in hybrids accounted for 0.3% of the fleet, hybrids for 2.7%, those powered by natural gas 0.1% and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) 0.3%.
In 2021, according to the latest ACEA data, the highest European percentage of 100% electric passenger cars was registered in Norway, where 16.2% of the cars were of this type. This is followed by Iceland with 4.6% and the Netherlands closes the podium with 2.8%.
In Europe, the countries where petrol has the most weight are Greece (90.1%), the Netherlands (79.5%) and Cyprus (75.5%), while in the case of diesel it is Lithuania (67.8%), Latvia (65%) and Portugal (59.1%).
The average percentage of vehicles using petrol in the European Union is 51.1%, while in the case of diesel it is 41.9% and pure electric vehicles will represent an average of 0.8% of the fleet in 2021.
Another aspect on which ACEA has collected data is the motorization index, or the number of passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants. In the European Union, the average motorization rate in 2021 was 567 tourism-type vehicles per 1,000 inhabitants.
Spain occupies twelfth position in this ranking, with 535 cars per 1,000 inhabitants, while Luxembourg leads with 698. Poland is second, with 684 cars, and Italy (672) is third.
On the other side are Romania, with 396 vehicles per 1,000 inhabitants, Latvia (400) and Hungary (413). In Germany, the data stands at 584 cars, in France at 573 and in the United Kingdom at 546.
Source: La Verdad
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
