Spanish passenger car production has risen in the first half of 2013, according to the latest data published by ANFAC. The trade association said in a statement that the number of passenger cars built during the month was up 7.9% year-on-year (y/y) to 927,844 units. Light commercial vehicle (LCV) manufacturing output also improved by 4.2% y/y to 109,274 units. However, output of sport utility vehicles (SUVs) tumbled by 34.6% y/y to 21,023 units.
Significance: Despite a tumultuous first half of the year for production in the country, not helped by fewer working days in some months, output for many key sectors has grown. It has been helped by a greater number of exports of passenger cars and LCVs, although SUV remained down. There has also been some help from the Plan Ecological Industrial Vehicle (Plan Industrial del Vehículo Ecológico: PIVE) scheme implemented by the government, which will be extended for a third round. With the beginning of production of the Renault Captur, SEAT Leon and other new models, IHS Automotive currently expects that light-vehicle production will rise by around 6% y/y during 2013, breaking through the two million mark again. We also expect production to return to almost 2.8 million units by 2018, as Ford and Opel bring new models to the country, taking it close to the 2.9 million units seen during several years in the previous decade.
