Car registrations in Catalonia fell by 18.3% in 2011

Madrid (ACN).- Car registrations in Catalonia decreased by 18.3% last year compared to 2011 according to data released on Monday by the Spanish Association of Car and Truck Manufacturers (ANFAC). Over the past 12 months, 119,994 cars were registered in Catalonia, a figure similar to 1993. In Spain as a whole 2011 has been a bad year, with a drop of 17.7%. 808,059 vehicles were sold in Spain last year, which for the third year running means that less than 1 million cars have been sold in the country. The only exception was in luxury cars, with sales increasing more than 83% in 2011. ANFAC foresees “a difficult situation” for the automotive sector in 2012, as forecasts are predicting less than 800,000 units could be sold in the next 12 months.

Saloon car sales in Catalonia in 2011, which represent almost 15% of the market in Spain, broke the trend in 2010, when they grew by 4.7%, with 146,751 cars sold. The effect of Plan 2000E, which was effective until September 2010 and offered up to €2,000 grants to buy a new car, partly explains the difference between the 2011 figures and those from 2010. Car sales in Catalonia from December 2011 compared with those from the same month in 2010 -when Plan 2000E had already ended- show that more than 1.7% cars were sold than one year ago. However, for Spain as a whole in December 2011, 3.6% fewer cars were sold compared to December 2010, with a total of 66,458 units sold.

According to ANFAC, “the unemployment rate, the confidence crisis and the credit crunch have stagnated the market to 1993 levels.” Nevertheless in a press release, car manufacturers stressed the “commercial effort” some manufacturers and dealers are undertaking to attract customers. They say that a car can be purchased with the same average price as 2008 but with twice the amount of features. In addition, ANFAC estimated that the public administration lost €450 million in car taxes due to the activity decrease in the sector.

Private consumers are those who have bought fewer cars in 2011, with a 33.6% fall in Spain. According to ANFAC, private consumers only bought 48% of the total amount of cars sold in 2011, while in 2007 they represented 60% of the market share. On the contrary, private corporations have bought 6.3% more saloon cars than in 2010, and car rental companies bought 4.3% more. Besides, the luxury car market share increased their sales more than 83% in 2011.