More than 1.5 million cars have been manufactured in Spain, but fewer and fewer are being produced

Car production in Spain is by no means small. Up to the end of August, 1,589,265 units have been manufactured in our country. In raw terms, this seems like a very high figure, but in reality we find that vehicle production has fallen by 1.5% compared with the previous year.

Car production has been falling steadily for four months, and the cause seems to be a drop in demand in Europe. To put this data into further context, it should be noted that in July 183,635 vehicles were manufactured, and in August 73,434 units. This represents 10% and 20% less than in the same months of 2023.

Drop in passenger car manufacturing

Looking at vehicle types, we find that in July 145,956 units were manufactured, and in August 55,442 units. In July there was a 9.3% decline compared with July 2023, but in August this fall was 22.4% compared with August 2023. A production drop well worth noting.

Commercial vehicles have also suffered a considerable decline, with a fall of 12.7% and 11.9% in July and August, respectively. The decline is also repeated in exports. In July, 171,811 units left Spain, and 77,038 in August. This marks decreases of 5.4% and 17.7% respectively compared with the same period in 2023.

Europe accounts for 93% of exports of vehicles manufactured in Spain, both in July and in August. In the European market, Germany is the main destination for these vehicles. In second place come the United Kingdom in July and France in August. However, there are other markets that are increasing their imports of vehicles manufactured in Spain.

Exports to Mexico rose by 76.7%, while vehicles shipped to the Netherlands increased by 41.5% and exports to Poland rose by 29% in July. In August, exports to the Netherlands grew by 70% and to Portugal by 35.6%. On the other side, exports to Turkey fell by 33.3% and to the United Kingdom by 38.25%.

And electrified cars?

As for electrified cars, their production accounted for 9.7% of total cars manufactured in July. Although this is a fairly significant percentage, it is 1.2% lower than last year. In August, the manufacturing share represented 11.1% of the total, a 6.2% decline compared with August 2023. In terms of volume, in July 17,853 electrified vehicles were manufactured, a fall of 19.6%, while in August a total of 8,162 vehicles were manufactured, a notable drop of 48.6%.

Of these totals, 15,310 fully electric cars were manufactured in July and 8,162 units in August. The decline was 19.6% in July and a worrying 48.6% compared with the same months of 2023. From January to August, 25.1% fewer were manufactured than in the same period of 2023.

What do these figures tell us? For the moment, that vehicle production in Spain is in decline, although four months remain to be accounted for, and that may help this sector, vital to the Spanish economy, to recover.