• More realistic What is the WLTP protocol for measuring CO2 in cars?

  • User The odyssey of buying a used car in Spain

If 2021 started with the storm Filomena, thousands of Spanish motorists will debut 2022 also in the middle of a perfect storm.

On the one hand, it will be when they receive their cars due to the delay

due to the microchip crisis in the factories.

And that will mean that,

when they formalize the purchase, the new Registration tax is already in force,

which will bring with it a price increase.

According to the federation of dealers Faconauto, the increased wait has not made all buyers give up and,

by the end of the year, sellers will have a portfolio of up to 250,000 undelivered car orders.

The problem is that, when these vehicles reach the hands of their customers,

the new sections of the Registration tax linked to the WLTP emissions protocol

will already be applied

.

This CO2 measurement method is more realistic than the previous NEDC and results in 20% higher values.

This will cause cars that do not pay today, to be taxed at the minimum rate of 4.75%.

And that many others jump to the other higher sections (9.75% and 14.75%, respectively).

The differences between the NEDC cycle tests and the WLTP

Average increase of 5%

The average price increase will be

between 800 and 1,000 euros for a car around 20,000 euros.

Or, in general, it will be 5% on this year's rate.

In reality, this scheme began to be applied in January 2021

, but it was frozen since July thanks to an amendment introduced in the Anti-Fraud Law.

In it, the Government was forced to raise the CO2 values ​​for each section, raising the threshold to be exempt to 144.

The grace measure will expire on December 31 and the Executive has already decided to return to the previous status quo, despite the bad timing of sales.

So again, a car will have to emit 120 grams or less to avoid paying the tax.

The 100% electric, like the new BMW iX, will not go up in price

Only the electrics are saved

Only the

electric ones, the hybrids (especially the PHEV plug-ins) and some that use LPG or natural gas

will be saved from burning

.

The problem is that, although they grow consistently from month to month, alternative energy vehicles only represent 33% of the 774,000 cars registered until November. Percentage that drops to less than 11% if only 100% battery-powered cars and PHEVs are considered.

To this must be added that the average waiting time for a car in Spain

has gone from four weeks to three months (87 days) in a year due to the lack of semiconductors,

which is weighing on factory production.

With the distortion that this data supposes - there are brands that, directly, do not know when the vehicles will arrive - represents a growth of 222%, according to the Kantar consultancy for Unoauto.

The lack of chips is causing fewer cars to be made

Those who least expect from Europe

But even with growth that is the highest among the large European markets, the Spanish can find a song in their teeth: they are the least expected. The height of patience is for the

French, for whom their car does not arrive until 153 days

(five months) from the order, with an increase in the term of 94%.

In the United Kingdom, the wait reaches 144 days

(82%); in

Germany it is 115 days

, although those are very similar levels. And in

Italy, if before the wait was less than a month and a half, now it is 88 days

, almost like in Spain.

In addition, the alternative for those who want their car now, is to opt for the most expensive and equipped models or those that are the most sold.

And it is that,

in a situation of shortage of microchips, those are focusing their production on cars and versions that give them more benefit.

The lack of cars leaves the fields empty, like this one from VW Navarra

Rental companies ask for more cars

Once this strategy has been transferred to the sales channels, this means that

manufacturers have focused their operations on private and corporate clients

(fleets and renting), to the detriment of those they do with less profitable rental companies.

Juan Luis Barahona, the president of Feneval, the employer of the rent a car companies, lamented this.

“We know how to do a lot of things, but we don't know how to rent cars if we don't have them.

Remember us.

We need vehicles ”

was the message he sent to automakers.

Because this shortage of product, together with the vicissitudes that tourism passes through, the great stock market that the rental lives on, have caused the sector's turnover to plummet this year to 900 million euros, 50% less compared to to 2019.

Car fleet of a rental company

But other measures can also help recovery.

Thus, Barahona insisted on an old demand from the sector:

the application of a VAT reduced to 10%, instead of the current 21%.

"It is the same type that applies to tourism and passenger transport, if we are included in one activity or another."

Consistency of environmental regulations

In addition, Feneval claims

"to simplify regulations at the state level and regulatory coherence between administrations, something key to requesting Next Generation aid from the EU."

Also because 2022 will be an important year due to the application of different environmental laws that will affect the car, although regions such as the Balearic Islands have already advanced with their own and more severe regulations.

"We need to collaborate with the administrations, we account for about 20% of vehicle registrations in Spain."

Thus, so far in 2021 these companies have acquired 185,375 passenger cars and commercial vehicles, 69% less than in 2020 and 26% less than in 2019. Among them,

also 100% electric models, although Barahona made it clear: « It is of little use if the client does not want them yet.

Image of one of the editions of the Used Motor Show in Madrid

Old used cars and diesel

In the case of private customers, the lack of supply of new models is leading many of them to the used market, where delivery is immediate, although it also suffers from supply problems.

Especially in

models up to five years old, the most coveted and flying from shop windows, despite the fact that their price has increased by up to 15.5% compared to 2020.

In total, between January and November 2021,

1.78 million operations were carried out with used vehicles.

That is 2.3 times more than new sales,

an unknown ratio in Spain, and only 5.2% less than in 2019.

The problem is that most of the used cars that pass out of hands are just the opposite extreme of what the new times demand and set the standards.

57.1% are diesel,

another 37.7% gasoline and alternative models account for only the remaining 5.2%. Furthermore,

one in three vehicles is over 15 years old; and 60%, 10 or more.

These operations mean that, instead of ending up in scrapping, those older and more polluting vehicles continue to form part of

a fleet that is at the bottom of Europe by age, with more than 13 years.

And while this is happening, the Government continues to turn a deaf ear, committed to achieving sustainability based only on electrified vehicles and without promoting a plan for the renovation of the park.

The one launched in the second half of 2020 was a failure due to the complexity of the process to request aid and because these were so low in combustion models, that it

was more profitable to sell the old car in the second-hand market.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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