Spain’s 2022 car production improves, outlook uncertain

Spain’s automotive industry improved its activity in December, seeing production and exports rise on-year, Kallanish notes. The sector ended 2022 surpassing the previous year’s figures, but still remains very cautious about future market development.

“We prudently observe a certain improvement, although this does not mean that a recovery has been achieved, nor do we believe that it implies a change in trend,” says national automotive association Asociación Nacional de Fabricantes de Automóviles y Camiones (Anfac). “Car production is still 600,000 units lower compared to prior to the pandemic year of 2019 and the industry remains exposed to the microchip crisis, economic uncertainty and distribution problems, among other external factors.”

The association is concerned over the new bottleneck caused by the disruption of vehicle supplies both by sea and road, which could limit export capacity throughout this year. It considers it very important to promote the advancing of the sector’s transformation towards electrification and new mobility.

In 2022, Spanish car production amounted to 2,219,462 vehicles, or 5.8% more compared to 2021. December’s output represented 175,245 units or 18.9% more on-year.

Meanwhile, a recovery in sales in major European markets supported Spanish vehicle export growth in 2022. Shipments abroad were up 3.3% compared to 2021 to 1,881,164 vehicles. In December alone, exports were 148,434 units, a growth of 16.2% on-year.

The European market had a 69.4% share in Spanish deliveries in 2022, up 7.6% y-o-y, the automotive association confirms.

Todor Kirkov Bulgaria