Differing Directions for Spanish Car Distribution

MADRID – Spain is becoming a hot spot of change in car distribution.

Electric-vehicle maker Tesla is hiring 11 people for its owned showrooms, one in Barcelona and a second likely in Madrid. One employee will handle sales in Lisbon in neighboring Portugal.

Tesla also plans to install its battery superchargers in various locations starting with the Catalonia region of Northeast Spain, where the largest city is Barcelona.

Two associations representing Spanish dealers have not commented publicly on Tesla’s plan, as the EV maker’s expansion to the Iberian Peninsula is being led from Paris.

Meanwhile, importer Berge Automocion will continue distributing Infiniti, Nissan’s luxury marque, in Spain. Infiniti will try to increase sales by adding Renault dealers elsewhere in Europe.

Infiniti registrations in Spain totaled 860 units in the first nine months of 2016, a 108.7% increase over prior year, a growth rate expected to continue in coming months, according to ANFAC, the main Spanish association of automakers. The 124 registrations in September alone were up 300% over like-2015.

PSA Group’s upscale DS brand currently distributes its vehicles in Spain through Citroen dealers, but may form its own retail network.

“It will be a small network with no more than 40 dealers,” says Cristophe Mandon, PSA CEO for Spain and Portugal. As an expensive niche vehicle, dealers will have to sell at least 300 units a year to be profitable, he says.