Quick question: do you know how many cars there are on the road in Spain today?

Have you ever wondered or stopped to think about how many cars there are in Spain today? According to the most recent data provided by the Dirección General de Tráfico, there were 24,558,126 passenger cars on the road in 2021, compared with 24,074,151 in 2018. That is, between 2018 and 2021, 483,985 units were registered.

It should be noted that the 2020 figures are not reflected on the Tráfico website because for much of that year we were confined, so activity was reduced to a minimum. Even so, in recent years the car fleet has been growing at a rate of 2% per year.

Spain has 24,558,126 cars today

According to the latest official count by the Dirección General de Tráfico, the Spanish vehicle fleet is made up of 5,015,973 trucks and vans, 65,470 buses, 24,558,126 passenger cars, 3,607,226 motorcycles, 232,680 tractors, 487,823 trailers and semi-trailers, and 467,493 units of other registered vehicle types. Adding all these figures together, the Spanish vehicle fleet totals 34,434,791 vehicles.

If we add the 1,908,492 registered mopeds to this number, we could say that Spain has a total of 36,343,283 vehicles that can be driven on our roads every day. This confirms that the vehicle fleet keeps growing: over the last decade it has risen by 11.59%, from 30,855,969 to 34,434,791 units.

Not all the data is good: the average age of the Spanish vehicle fleet is too high. It currently stands at 13.2 years. This is not favourable, although it can be understood given the situation we are living through and the high price of new cars.

As a curiosity, let’s enter the eternal debate: petrol or diesel? In Spain there are 15,134,743 cars, motorcycles, vans and trucks running on petrol, while those running on diesel total 18,633,588, so diesel-powered vehicles come out ahead. When this year 2021 ends, we will also be able to see the impact of fully electric cars, full hybrids, plug-in hybrids, gas-powered vehicles such as those running on LPG and CNG, and even hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. What data do you think will be obtained?