Passenger cars powered by alternative technologies already lead the purchasing options in Spain, with a 41.1% market share. However, electrified vehicles have not yet reached cruising speed and their sales figures remain stagnant compared to last year.
The ecological vehicle advances in Spain between lights and shadows. In the current scenario, in which the motor sector seeks to recover pre-pandemic sales figures (more than 1.2 million annual operations), the good news is the takeoff of automobiles powered by alternative technologies (those who do not use gasoline or diesel). As of today, the sum of all of them (electric, hybrid, gas and hydrogen) is already, for several consecutive months, the first purchase option for Spanish drivers.
Within the stagnation that the industry itself recognizes, this is a hopeful symptom in the arduous race to green the aging automobile fleet of our country. In May They represented 41.1% of the registered operations and in the total for the year there are already 217,824 units sold. Furthermore, the volume of these operations grew 20.1% that monthsurpassing diesel vehicles (23.3%) and gasoline vehicles (35.5%) as a purchase option, according to data from the Spanish Association of Automobile and Truck Manufacturers (Anfac) and Faconauto, the employers’ association of the dealers.
As Félix García, from Anfac, explains, that surprise It is due, above all, to the fact that, without reaching the environmental commitment that a 100% electric car requires, “There are manufacturers that are succeeding in sales of conventional hybrids [con un aumento del 24,8% en abril y cercano al 40% el mes anterior]”, which denotes, in turn, that “many Spanish citizens are trying to be ecological within their means.”
Among the most representative examples of this boom is the Japanese Toyota, one of the few brands that has recovered pre-pandemic operating levels and is already selling more than in 2019. Its success in Spain is mainly due to the great demand for its products. non-plug-in hybrid cars, with the Corolla and Yaris models among the five best sellers in the segment continuously (although last month, the first was the Fiat 500).
In the category of gas vehicles there is also the paradigmatic case of Dacia and its Sandero model (the best-selling in Spain), of which six out of every ten units sold are liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). This reflects its growing acceptance in a type of propulsion that is still a minority, but growing exponentially according to the figures of recent months. Although they only represent 2.6% of the total market share, sales in this segment register in the accumulated of 2024 40.5% more than during the same period of the previous year.
ELECTRICAL BLACKOUT
The reality of the electrified vehicle is much more complex. In this segment, where Tesla Model 3 leads sales this year (with 31% more than last year), the total figures continue without accelerating their expansion. Despite the commitment of the motor industry and Europe’s ambitious plans to adopt them as the main mobility technology, the figures do not show great progress. So far in 2024, The penetration of electrified vehicles stands at 9.6%, two points less than a year agoafter falling 11.9% in May.
According to Raúl Morales, from Faconauto, “only countries like Greece, Italy, Poland or the Czech Republic are below this figure in Europe”, which shows that “something is happening with this lack of response from buyersbut not only in our country.” Electrification, which accounts for 20% of registrations in the EUfell 2.2 percentage points in mainland markets during the first quarter, with 12 of the top 18 markets reducing their percentage of penetration in new vehicle sales.
García highlights the fact that Spain enjoys the largest budget in history for the promotion of these vehicles (more than 1,200 million euros). However, he is “concerned, because With this level of sales of zero-emission vehicles we will not meet the decarbonization objectives“According to him, the sector does not stop launching plug-in models on the market (more than 230), but he sees it as necessary.”greater involvement and speed from the Administration to help citizens opt for new technologies”.
Arturo Pérez de Lucía, general director of the Business Association for the Development and Promotion of Electric Mobility (Aedive), highlights that charging operators are rolling out a public network which already “allows, despite bureaucratic difficulties, for an electric vehicle user to travel throughout Spain without difficulties.”
According to all the associations in the sector, promoting electrification in Spain means overcoming several pending challenges: “More affordable prices, a unified map of charging points, direct and incentive tax policies and that the messages that are sent around the private use of the automobile are constructive and not destructive.”
