Anfac proposes an immediate tax discount for electric cars
“The Government has to respond to our requests in the first quarter of 2024, so that they can enter the budgets and the necessary measures are taken.”. If not, we will have lost another year.”. It was the message that Wayne Griffiths, the president of the Anfac manufacturers' association, wanted to convey after having held two meetings with the new ministers of Industry (Jordi Hereu) and Transport (Oscar Puente. Some meetings that convinced him to continue leading Anfac for another year “to do important things, not to appear in the photo.”. “I needed to find complicity with them and, although they can't promise us anything yet, they share our analysis,” said the also CEO of Seat and Cupra.. And that analysis is that “things are not going well” in terms of electrification, which defines a period that the manager described as “disruption rather than transformation.”.
three requests
Among the requests that Anfac leaves on the table, three stand out. One is to replace aid for the purchase of plug-in cars with fiscal measures, a kind of bonus that can be collected immediately without the dealer having to advance it either.. More measures should also be introduced to benefit companies, which buy half of these types of vehicles.. Finally, they propose that the Ministry of Transport monitor the status and evolution of the charging network in real time since, starting next year, the EU “will require us to meet the objectives set.”.
José López-tafall, general director of Anfac, with Griffiths
In that sense, Griffiths recalled that we are still 50% below the market level and scope of the charging infrastructure.. For example, with a sales share of only 12%, compared to the 20% average in Europe, which is what it should reach next year.. An exercise for which it predicts that total registrations will exceed one million units in the case of passenger cars as long as the necessary measures are applied. For 2023, the latest forecast is to remain at 950,000 cars, 17% more than in 2022, “which was an especially bad year” in the words of José López-Tafall, general director of Anfac.
In the opinion of manufacturers, the current legislature is key for the future of the Spanish automobile industry: “whatever is not done in the next two years will have been lost, since manufacturers have to make their investment decisions and can decide take them somewhere else”. In Spanish, this forces us to flee from prohibitions in cities to stimulate the sale of electrified models. Because the “demand exists”, although consumers have seen how inflation or interest rates are 'eating' the money intended for the acquisition of a new vehicle and, in addition, they continue to have many doubts about the technology to choose..
eighth producers in the world
If we add to that boosting Moves for heavy vehicles; fight absenteeism in factories, which has doubled from 5% to 10%; and take advantage of the potential in renewable energies, Spain could not only maintain its status quo, but reinforce it. In 2023, the factories will assemble some 2.4 million units, allowing us to regain eighth place in the world as manufacturers.. In the last two years, it was occupied by Brazil
Regarding the EU strategy, rather than putting obstacles or tariffs that “protect” the automotive industry against “more competitive rivals” [read Chinese], Griffiths said that an industrial plan is necessary that improves productivity and competitiveness.