We have a problem: the average age of the Spanish car fleet exceeds 13 years on average

The data revealed by the latest report from ANFAC are devastating: at the end of 2020, the Spanish car fleet was one of the oldest in Europe, with an average age of 13.1 years. It’s not that the rest of the continent can boast of youth, because the average stands at 10.8 years. But the situation looks bad, because the average age of the Spanish fleet has increased by more than six months compared to the previous year. And this came after a worrying ageing trend caused by the economic crisis.

In addition, almost 64% of the cars on Spanish roads and in its cities are more than 10 years old. The figure is similar when we focus on light commercial vehicles, rising to 67% in the case of industrial vehicles and reaching 55% in the bus and minibus segment.

For every new passenger car sold, 1.3 cars over 10 years old are sold

While in 2020, around 851,200 new passenger cars were registered in Spain, sales of second-hand cars over 10 years old exceeded 1,116,900 units, which means that for every new car sold, 1.3 “old” cars were sold. And this is a serious problem with two dimensions: polluting emissions and safety.

Today, a new vehicle, thanks to systems that help clean exhaust gases, such as EGR, catalytic converters, particulate filters or AdBlue, emits 99% fewer particles and 86% fewer nitrogen oxide emissions, according to ANFAC. Not to mention the difference in active and passive safety, especially with the new driving aids or ADAS systems.

More electrified vehicles need to be sold… but above all, old cars need to be scrapped

Electrification may be one of the ways to reduce emissions in the future. But for now, although almost 80% more electrified vehicles (counting battery electric and plug-in hybrids) were sold in 2020, this group barely represents 0.3% of the total car fleet circulating in Spain. For its part, cars with the ECO label (basically non-plug-in hybrids, mild hybrids or gas-powered) still account for only 2.2% of the fleet.

There is, therefore, a lot of homework to be done. And at the rate we are going, not only would many more cars with the ECO or ZERO label need to be sold, which will surely happen, since there is growing environmental awareness and more supply, and the technology is becoming more affordable. The problem is that at the same time many more “very old” vehicles need to be scrapped, and I don’t see that as so easy. ANFAC’s data make it clear: the decarbonisation targets set by the sector would only be achievable if 19 million used cars of very high age were taken off the road, and 13 million “ZERO” cars, i.e. plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles, were sold.

Related information of interest

• This is the most sought-after used vehicle
• Which are the best-selling second-hand cars?
• Sales of vehicles with the 0 and ECO label increase by 127% in June