Spain is on track for a bumper 1.1m new vehicle registrations this year

August is usually a difficult month for the automotive market, as it tends to coincide with a holiday period when both dealers and buyers are away from their usual routine. However, 2025 is proving to be an exceptional year for the market in Spain, which is becoming the fastest growing of the 'Big 5' markets in Europe this year.

So far this year, 769,452 vehicles have been sold in Spain, an increase of 14.6% compared to the same period last year. This leads the sector's main associations - Anfac, Faconauto and Ganvam - to believe that the year could close with more than 1.1 million registrations.

However, Anfac, which represents the interests of vehicle manufacturers, points out that this figure is still 12.9% below the figure reached in 2019, before the Covid pandemic broke out.

The eighth month of the year saw 61,315 new vehicle registrations, 17.2% more than in 2024. This was mainly driven by the private and corporate channels, which are the most lucrative for brands. They grew by 22% and 16.1%, respectively.

The rental channel, having already stocked up for its inventories in August, purchased only 1,718 units, 13.7% fewer than last year.

Interestingly, last month was the first month in 2025 in which average emissions were below 100 grams of CO2 per kilometre driven. This is mainly due to the fact that sales of electric cars - i.e. plug-in hybrids and 100% electric cars - increased by 162% to represent 24.4% of the market.

So far this year, vehicles qualifying for the zero traffic label have already reached 138,254 sales, almost double the number in 2024, accounting for an 18% market share.

The associations are satisfied with the performance of the market. "Both the total sales and the sales of electric and plug-in hybrids are good. They attest to the effort made by brands to put more and more affordable electric models on the market in order to reach a greater number of people. All that remains to be done now is for the aid plans to have a sufficient budget; if the aid were direct and easier to process, it would be a further boost for sales of plug-in vehicles," said Anfac.

Revising the incentive plans for electric vehicles is something that the sector's employers have been clamouring for and something to which the government has committed itself for future editions of the moves plan.