Manufacturing is rebounding in Spain, with electrified production growing by more than 20%.
Car production in Spain continued its recovery from the pandemic in 2023 and registered growth of 10.4% compared to the previous year. According to manufacturers association Anfac, 2,451,221 units were produced last year.
The association attributes the good evolution to a combination of three factors: improved delivery rates, supply chain stability and the positive evolution of markets in Europe. However, remember that vehicle production remains 13% below 2019 levels, the year before the pandemic hit.
By vehicle type, passenger vehicle production in December was 107,369 units, down 23.1% from the same month in 2022, bringing the year-on-year total to 1,907,050 units (+6.7%). In turn, production of commercial and industrial vehicles decreased by 2.6% compared to December 2022 and amounted to 34,683 units; At the end of 2023 there were 544,171, representing a remarkable increase of 25.9% compared to the previous year.
Production of zero- and low-emission vehicles (i.e. pure electric, plug-in hybrids, conventional hybrids, natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas) increased significantly, reaching 59.3% more than in 2022 for a total of 509 219 units. In 2023, these vehicles will account for 20.8% of production, up 6.4 percentage points from the previous year.
Production of electrified vehicles (electric and plug-in hybrids) increased by 21.3% to 323,255 units, accounting for 13.2% of total production. Of these, 157,751 units were pure electric models, up 24.2% from 2022, and 165,504 units were plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), up 18.7% from the previous year.
In turn, in the total number of cars for the year, the share of exported electrified cars was 13.1%. Also noteworthy is the increase in the production share of conventional hybrid vehicles, which increased by 3.1 percentage points compared to the previous year.
90% of cars are exported
In 2023, 2,201,802 units were shipped outside our country, which is 13.9% more than in 2022, which means that nine out of every 10 cars made in Spain They travel on the roads of other countries.
In December, exports registered a decline of 15.4% compared to the same month the previous year, to 129,573 vehicles.
In the last month of the year, European destinations accounted for 91.4% of vehicle deliveries, which is 13.3% less than in December last year. At the end of the year, Europe remains the leading export destination with 90% of supplies and annual growth of 13.4%. In that Top 5 Of the 2,023 destinations, France, Germany, the UK, Italy and Turkey are the only ones down, with bookings down 1%.
“Vehicle production ends 2023 with positive performance, but still below pre-pandemic levels and below the 2.5 million unit level. This year 2023 was the year when manufacturing began to recover in our country (…), but we must not let our guard down, because in 2024 we must continue to bet on a sector that creates more than two million jobs. and “which is the key to Spain’s competitiveness,” said José López-Tafall, CEO of Anfac, about these figures.
“Our country has the resources to create a leading and benchmark industry such as center electromobility,” he continued. Now is the time to establish it through policies and measures that will facilitate this transition, both on the demand side and in the industry. This year will be crucial for electrification and we must make clear progress in introducing charging stations and encouraging the purchase of electrified vehicles.”
In addition, “this legislature is key to strengthening our market for electrified vehicles through new steps with direct and more effective assistance that place Spain at the forefront of the transition at European level. This is an achievable goal, but we can only achieve it if we all build it together: companies, citizens, city councils, autonomous communities and government,” concluded López-Tafall.