Car production in Spain slips due to chip shortage

A shortage of semiconductors affected manufacturing rates around the world but more severely in Europe and America. Germany, for example, also saw its figures drop by 11.7 per cent and the United Kingdom by 6.1 per cent, according to data from the Spanish Association of Manufacturers, Anfac.

Compared to 2019, the Spanish figures represent a drop of 25.6 per cent with a difference of 724,000 units

Spanish vehicle exports are still strong. Some 86.8% of the total, 1,820,727 units, went to foreign markets, 6.7 per cent less representing one fifth of the Spanish trade balance. The number of electric vehicles increased. Some 194,936 were produced, 9.3 per cent of the total and an increase of 39.3 per cent compared to 2020.

The manufacturing slowdown translated in turn to Spanish registrations, which closed the year with 876,120 registrations (- 0.5 per cent) and delivery times of up to six months late. Both Anfac and Faconauto, which represents official dealers, consider that this is an anomalous market and that a healthy one is around 1.2 million passenger cars.

Not reaching these figures represents "a real risk for employment,” said the general director of Anfac, José López-Tafall.