The slowdown in the Spanish economy has started to affect the automotive sector, which has an important place in Spain's GNP. In 2018, 2,819,565 cars were produced in Spain. Compared to the previous year, the production of cars in Spain decreased by 1.01% in 2018.
In Spain, members of, approximately, 2 million families are employed in the automotive sector, and the automotive sector accounts for 18% of Spain's exports. In addition, 10% of Spain's GNP is derived from the automotive sector.
Most of the cars produced by Spain are sold in the European market. The slowdown in the European economy has also reduced sales in the automotive sector. Therefore, Spain has been directly affected by the decline in sales in the European automotive sector since it produces the most automobiles in Europe after Germany. In December 2018, automobile production in Spain decreased by 16.1% to 146,395.
Spain's exports of the automotive sector in 2018 decreased by 0.6% compared to the previous year and a total of 2,304,418 vehicles were exported which reveals that in December 2018, automobile exports declined by 13.6%, and in December, Spain exported 121,179 automobiles.
In other member countries of EU, sales in the automotive sector continued to decline. Sales in Italy decreased by 3.1%, while it decreased by 2% in Germany. On the other hand, car sales in France increased by 3%. The country, where sales of automobiles decreased most in Europe was the UK with 7%.
Since 90% of Spain's automobile exports are made to the member countries of the European Union, with the right of the free circulation, Spain exports the goods in the EU market without any customs tax. On the other hand, as of January 2019, the customs duties imposed on steel exports from third countries in 26 categories which may affect the competitiveness of the Spanish automotive sector is being discussed by the authorities of the leading companies in the sector. It is predicted, that the production of the automotive sector, which is struggling to find sufficient steel for automobile production within the EU due to these customs tax measures taken by the European Commission to protect steelmakers in the European market and prevent the fall in market prices, may be negatively affected.
