sectors
Automotive
Sustainability and innovation as leaders
Maintain your business in privileged positions by adapting it to new forms of production and consumption.
During this last decade, the automotive sector has been immersed in a global ecological awareness movement that has also reached its plants. Both the 2015 Paris Agreement¹ and the 2020 Davos Manifesto² reinforced the commitment of automotive companies to a sustainable future at the time.
Now, what is a vital sector for the Spanish economy (it contributes a significant percentage to GDP and exports) must adapt to these environmental objectives without losing its privileged position in the industry.
Spain is the second largest European vehicle producer and the ninth worldwide.
In 2035, European regulations will force an end to the production and sale of cars with combustion engines. Countries, companies and consumers must change the way they think and act to join these new scenarios that arise in terms of sustainable mobility. Where does this regulation leave automobile production?
Threats to the sector's competitiveness²
Decreasing demand
The decrease in vehicle registrations originates from:
- The economic uncertainty caused by factors such as Covid, the Russia-Ukraine conflict or the raw materials crisis generates a delay in the acquisition of vehicles as a savings measure for families.
- The European regulations mentioned above, which imply that the population will acquire electric vehicles sooner or later. However, the mismatch between the price of these and the average purchasing power is causing people to postpone the purchase.
- A change in consumer behavior, reflected in an increase in the use of alternatives for mobility or vehicles imported with greater added value.
Problems in the supply chain
On the other hand, the decrease in vehicle production is a consequence of:
- The semiconductor and other raw materials crisis, which has accentuated European dependence on Asia. This and other factors have caused a supply stagnation.
- Inflation and the increase in energy and logistics costs, intensified as a result of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which have strained distribution and put the European industry at a disadvantage.
Factors that, beyond production, affect the time between the purchase of a vehicle and its delivery and, therefore, generate de-intensification in demand.
New single and coordinated policy to face them²
It is advisable to adapt the industry to the growing market for electric vehicles, especially if the limit imposed for 2035 is taken into account. In this sense, it is likely that it will be necessary to invest in new technologies, as well as in training and retraining for workers accustomed to traditional production.
Following the thread of the previous point, Spain must consolidate itself as a neuralgic center of electric automotive, so it is necessary to encourage the implementation of gigafactories of batteries and components of high added value and create an attractive ecosystem for the manufacture of semiconductors. At the same time, the new manufacturing centers must incorporate solutions that streamline all processes.
With the promotion of R (research, development and innovation) in technologies relevant to the vehicles of the future and their production plants, the door is left open to the generation, retention and use of a much more advanced ecosystem of innovation and industrial knowledge.
Environmental regulations can be taken as an opportunity to positively transform the industry. This could imply changes in the vehicle production model, as well as in the business of automobile companies and in the products they distribute.
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