Intermoney| According to data published by the manufacturers’ (Anfac), dealers’ (Faconauto) and vendors’ (Ganvam) associations, car sales in Spain maintained a positive performance in May, with growth of 8.3%, slightly higher than the 8.2% in April but moderating the rate of increase after the strong growth of+45% accumulated in the first quarter.
More than 92k vehicles were registered in May, bringing cumulative sales in the first five months of the year to more than 404k units, 27% higher than in the same period last year. Despite this strong rise and a four-year high, sales are still well below pre-pandemic levels (28% lower than the same period in 2019).
REGISTRATIONS JANUARY-MAY
By channels:
Sales to private customers: up 5% in May (up to 34,495 units, 40% of total vehicles sold) and a rise of 17% YTD (165.4k units, 41% of the total).
Corporate: up 5% in May (to 33,822 units, 37% of total sales) and a rise of 21% YTD (163.2k units, 40% of the total).
Rental companies: for the eighth consecutive month, a strong recovery, with a rise of 19% in May (to 21,708 units, 19% of the total) and 78% YTD (75.7k units, 19% of the total).
Assessment: Car sales continued to perform well in May, albeit at a much slower pace of growth than in the first quarter. January sales benefited from the bottlenecks in vehicle transport at the end of 2022, with many units put on sale in December but finally sold in January; March also saw the release of a backlog of orders after improving the logistics chain and vehicle production. In any case, although uncertainties remain high, the outlook for 2023 is for an improvement over 2022, reaching 950k units registered according to Anfac, which is 50k units better than its previous forecast and 17% growth against 2022 figures.
