Car sales grew by 49.1% in the Canary Islands in March, compared to the same month last year, to a total of 4,941 units, which represents 5% of the national market share, according to data from the manufacturers’ associations (Anfac), dealers (Faconauto) and vendors (Ganvam). In the first three months of the year, the accumulated increase is 36.8%, with 12,567 units sold.
In Spain as a whole, registrations of passenger cars and SUVs in Spain reached 99,524 units in March, 66.1% more than the 59,919 vehicles sold in the third month of 2022. In the cumulative first quarter of 2023, car deliveries in the Spanish market stood at 237,563 units, representing a year-on-year progression of 44.5% compared to the 164,398 units recorded in the same period of 2022.
On these figures, the three organisations have pointed out that the increase is due to improvements in the logistics chain and vehicle production. “In the last month, a stock of accumulated orders has been released, which has increased the volume of sales, mainly for the rental and business channel. In any case, although there is an improvement in March, the market is still 19% lower than pre-pandemic figures in 2019,” they stressed.
By channels, private customers bought 36,061 passenger cars and SUVs in March, up 36%, and 100,550 units in the year-to-date, up 29%, while companies registered 38,656 units in March (+44.8%) and 74,284 in the year-to-date since January (+32.7%).
Meanwhile, ‘rent a car’ firms purchased 24,807 passenger cars and SUVs in the domestic market in the third month of 2023, which represents a strong increase of 269.4% in year-on-year terms, while in the first quarter of the year the figure soared by 216.7% to 38,449 units.
Likewise, the March registration data show that the average carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions of passenger cars sold in the third month of the year stood at 119.8 grams per kilometre travelled, 0.28% lower than the average emissions of new cars sold in the same month of 2022. For the year-to-date 2023, emissions stand at 119.1 grams of CO2 per kilometre travelled, 0.34% lower than the same period last year.
“Vehicle sales have performed better than expected at the start of the year, thanks above all to the fact that the stock of vehicles that was generated in the last part of last year has been registered. March has confirmed this trend, boosted by the registrations made by car rental companies that have been preparing for the Easter tourist season,” said Faconauto’s Director of Communications, Raúl Morales. However, he added that although dealer sales to private individuals have also improved, “they are still around 20% below what they were before the pandemic”.
For his part, the Director of Communication and Marketing at Anfac, Félix García, emphasised that sales of new passenger cars closed the first quarter of the year in positive figures, “which has not happened since before the pandemic”.
“In these first three months we have had a certain stability in the supply chain of parts and in logistics that have allowed the orders generated to be sold, as evidenced by the pull of the corporate channel. However, private individuals continue to buy more than 15,000 fewer vehicles per month than in 2019. Doubts about the use of private vehicles and their critisism continue to generate confusion: institutions have to make it clear that the low and zero emission vehicle is part of the solution and not part of the problem to achieve the decarbonisation of transport”, he added.
Ganvam’s Director of Communications, Tania Puche, also highlighted the “pull” in purchases by rental companies due to Easter. “However, we cannot lose sight of the fact that we are still significantly below pre-pandemic levels and that, if we want to turn this growth into a trend, now that production is improving, it is important to boost the market with the implementation of effective measures aimed at rejuvenating the fleet, ensuring that efficient vehicles are available to all households”, she said.
