Sales Uptick Doesn’t Excite Spanish Auto Industry

MADRID – Sales of new cars, SUVs and all-wheel-drive vehicles in Spain rose 2.5% year-over-year in January, reaching 54,961 units, according to ANFAC, the association of auto makers with plants in Spain.

But automotive industry officials say the increase merely is symbolic, due to prior-year’s low sales and large discounts and incentives offered during December.

“It is only a mirage, as the market continues at the 1995 levels,” Arancha Mur, economic director-ANFAC, says. “Moreover, the orders received by the different brands during January 2012 are 40% below December 2011, and that means the forecasted registrations level for this February is very poor.”

German Lopez, president of ANIACAM, the Spanish association of auto importers, says sales tumbled 23.4% in January 2011 from year-earlier, so last month’s increase is insignificant.

“The companies and particular-sale channels have started 2012 very bad, with contractions of 8.4% and 2.7%, respectively. Only the rental channel shows a very positive tendency,” with deliveries jumping 58.1%, he says.

“This behavior is derived from the anticipated acquisitions to take advantage of the incentives and discounts offered by all the brands during December and even January, to clean their inventories.”

Juan A. Sanchez, president of GANVAM, a Spanish association of auto dealers, vendors and repairers, believes that if the government does not enact fresh incentives or subsidies for the scrappage of cars older than 10 years, new-car demand this year will come to about 800,000 units, the same level as 1995.

Lopez says only 50% of those 800,000 sales will be made through independent leasing companies’ particular-sales channels, which are the most profitable for dealer networks. He and Sanchez predict that could lead to the loss of 3,000 to 5,000 auto dealer jobs this year.