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Date Published: 03/11/2021
ARCHIVED - A hard year expected for car sales in Spain
This October has been the second worst this century for car sales in Spain
There is hardly a sector in Spain that hasn’t been affected by the coronavirus pandemic and the automotive industry has been hit harder than most. With the global shortage of essential microchips causing serious limitations to the production of vehicles and the economic ramifications of the health crisis, 33% fewer new vehicles have been registered between January and October of 2021 compared to the same period in 2019.
So far this year, only 706,998 new cars were sold but last month things hit an all-time low; new registrations barely reached 59,000, a figure that places it as the second worst October so far this century.
The drop in sales caused by the pandemic is clearly reflected in the official data, which show that purchases have fallen by 18.2% compared to the same month in 2020. But the experts are laying most of the blame on the shortage of semiconductors, which are essential components in not just cars, but the majority of electronic equipment.
An increased demand for computers, laptops and tablets during the pandemic, while many were working and studying at home, combined with the limitations of major suppliers such as Intel, have led to a huge supply chain problem, with car manufacturers simply not able to get their hands on enough microchips to satisfy the demand.
Tania Puche, communication director of the Ganvam employer’s association, has cautioned that 2021 could be “another dark year for the automotive industry”, a fact that could spell disaster for Spain’s economy given that it is the second largest car manufacturer in the European Union only behind Germany, with the sector accounting for up to 10% of the GDP.
Anfac, the representative of dealerships in Spain, has predicted that the supply problems will last “at least all of next year,” with new registrations not expected to exceed 900,000 by the end of 2021.
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