Spanish automotive industry sees summer performance improvement

Spain’s automotive sector saw production recover on-year in both July and August. Exports also moved up, supported by better market conditions, Kallanish notes.

National automotive association Asociación Nacional de Fabricantes de Automóviles y Camiones (Anfac) released July and August figures jointly due to the summer seasonality.

“This growth is mainly due to the slight improvement in the supply of [input] materials that is allowing the factories to recover their production capacity and export levels,” Anfac observes. “The sector, however, remains affected by the microchips crisis and costlier materials. The recent announcements of new production stops show that we must wait for the evolution in the coming months to be able to affirm that the recovery is on the way”.

Output in July and August reached 152,351 units and 111,824 units, respectively. This was an on-year growth of 8.3% and 65.6%, respectively. Eight-month production amounted to 1.39 million vehicles, down 1% over the same period last year.

Meanwhile, a recovery in sales in major markets boosted Spanish vehicle exports. These were 131,397 units in July and 108,957 in August, up 10.5% and 72% respectively on-year. Spanish eight-month exports fell by 1.8% over January-August 2021 to 1.19 million vehicles.

“Although shipments improved, the industry continues to be affected by problems in the production chain and uncertainty in the main European markets due to high inflation rates and the unstable economic situation,” the association explains.

European markets represented 69.1% and 67.5% respectively of Spanish deliveries in July and August, Anfac data show.

Todor Kirkov Bulgaria