The automobile manufacturers put duties to the future Government. A few days before the general elections, the employers’ association Anfac has demanded that the next people in charge of industrial policy radically change the current Plan Moves III destined to finance the acquisition of electrified vehicles and which expires on December 31. For 2024 at this time there is no planned aid, something of concern in the sector that represents 10% of the national GDP after a closed 2022 with 813,374 passenger cars sold, a figure below 2020, the exercise of the first confinement. “It has been one of the worst years in the history of the sector,” say the car companies.
The automotive industry has not yet recovered the market volume prior to the pandemic and occupies the tail wagon in Europe as far as the electrification of the mobile fleet is concerned. It is a situation that brands have been warning about for some time and that now, on the eve of a general election, is becoming more pressing. That is why Anfac has proposed today a radical reform of financial aid for the purchase of cars. These are proposals that have already been sent to the main political parties.
Specifically, Anfac claims to implement a new incentive system when purchasing an electrified vehicle. The goal is for the subsidy to reach the citizen faster and to do so directly, at the time of purchasing tourism, without so many bureaucratic burdens. The current model, in which the autonomous communities have a leading role, laments the employers, causes the aid to be extended over time. Anfac also proposes to recover the aid for the renovation of the park, a kind of new renewal plan.
“We need a new, more efficient and direct demand aid model, which reaches the citizen and companies sooner, and avoids unproductive procedures and costs for public administrations,” José López-Tafall, general director of the employers’ association, claimed today. sector. “If we want to change things, we can’t keep doing the same thing,” he added. The maxim is: “We do not need more money, but efficiency.”
Anfac has also once again proposed a comprehensive tax reform to make it attractive for companies to renew their fleets with electrified vehicles. At this time the incentives are insufficient to boost sales, they point out, for which reason they propose a deduction in Corporate Tax for the acquisition of electrified vehicles by companies, as well as a deduction in VAT on these purchases. It must be remembered that the Government has just approved a 15% reduction in personal income tax for the purchase of electrified vehicles this year and next.
The employer has also asked for faster progress in the charging infrastructure. For this, Anfac has proposed the creation of a state center to implement the deployment of recharging (electrified) and refueling (hydrogen) points, as well as a specific aid plan, a kind of recharge Moves like the one that exists in Germany, to promote high-power charging points and avoid the so-called shadow zones in the national territory.
Car manufacturers that have industrial activity in Spain closed 2022 with a turnover of 70,392 million euros, 15.8% more than the previous year, according to Anfac’s annual report. The net result of the sector, however, was 767 million euros, 33% less than in 2021. According to the employers’ association, the automotive industry contributed to increasing tax collection by 39,177 million euros last year, 13, 2% than in 2021. Of this total, registration tax collection increased by 7.8%, amounting to 4,590 million, despite the fact that fewer vehicles were registered last year than the previous year, although they were more expensive.
Investment in the sector continued to rise. The objective is to move towards the electrified vehicle and sustainable mobility, for which the brands invested 1,710 million last year, confirming that Spain is an industrial hub for the automotive industry. At the end of the year, the automotive industry employed 62,341 people, 1% more than in 2021.
The number of sales of passenger cars in 2022 in Spain, 813,347, is far from the objective set by companies in the sector. The market, they defend, should be around 1.2 or 1.3 million passenger cars sold per year and 1.5 or 1.6 million including commercial vehicles, buses and heavy vehicles. “A market as low as that of 2022 penalizes the renovation of the park, which closed last year with an average of 13.9 years,” lamented López-Tafall.
