Spain’s Car Industry on the Brink of Collapse as Residents on the Costa del Sol and Costa Blanca are hanging back until the Coronavirus Crisis Ends

Car sales in Spain this April dropped by a staggering 95 per cent forcing the motor industry to rethink its strategy on how to continue producing cars that nobody wants.

SPAIN’S new car sales plummeted this year to an all-time low of 4,163 units in April, following a 69.3 per cent tumble in the previous month, as the country was under lockdown and dealerships were closed during the month as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak.

After a few phone calls to car dealerships on the Costa Blanca and the Costa del Sol, it became apparent that punters are simply not buying new models, preferring instead to hold on to their old ones. With all the unsurety prevalent in Spain at the moment due to the coronavirus epidemic, no one can blame them.

The problem is that it has a massive knock-on effect across the whole of the Spanish economy and not just for the manufacturers. It affects the distributors, the drivers, the workforces, and the hundreds of smaller but essential workshops dotted around Spain that produce bespoke parts.

Unemployment caused by the epidemic in Spain also means that people can’t afford to get their cars repaired, affecting the service industry. Everything from tyres to oil and petrol has experienced a massive drop in sales. Classified columns are full of second-hand cars for sale as people need to sell them to pay the rent or buy food. This all adds up to a lack of demand for new cars.

Unless things pick up soon we can expect to see a plethora of job losses across the board, something the Spanish government cannot certainly handle and definitely does not want at this moment in time.