VW shines in slumping Spanish market

Volkswagen brand was No. 1 in sales in Spain last month for the first time since June 2021.

The German automaker had 6,739 registrations in April, leaving it down 11 percent compared with April 2021 but still well ahead of second-placed Toyota at 5,897, a 9.8 percent improvement over the same month last year, led by the Corolla.

Seat rounded out the top three with 5,283 registrations, which was a 42 percent drop on the same month last year, according to figures from market researcher Dataforce.

Dataforce Senior Automotive Analyst Benjamin Kibies said that VW benefited from Spanish car buyers' preference for SUVs. He said the VW T-Roc, T-Cross and Tiguan accounted for 70 percent of VW’s registrations in Spain last month, compared with 37 percent average in Europe overall.

Kibies also pointed out that Seat's steep decline came as its sister brand, Cupra, increased sales 79 percent, pushing it ahead of Mazda and Volvo in the April brand rankings (see table, below).

Spain's other winners in April included Hyundai (+44 percent) and Kia (+11.3 percent), despite the overall market's 14 percent drop.

Hyundai got a big boost from the i20, which recorded a 79 percent sales increase compared with the same month last year. The Tucson and Kona were up 15 percent and 37 percent, respectively, according to Dataforce.

Kia was led by the Sportage (+20 percent), Ceed (+71 percent) and Xceed (+64 percent).

The Spanish market continues to be dominated by traditional powertrains as nearly 80 percent of April's registrations were of vehicles with gasoline or diesel engines.

The market share of full-electric cars rose a full percentage point (2.8 percent vs. 1.8 percent) in April despite the country's weak public charging infrastructure.

VW Group has signaled its intention to help Spain shift away from fuel-powered drivetrains with a 10 billion euro ($10.6 billion) investment to make electric vehicles and batteries in the country.

VW will partner with Spain's largest power utility, Iberdrola, which will set up a solar park to partly power a battery cell plant to be built in the municipality of Sagunto near Valencia.

VW brand was also the market leader in leasing in April, with 1,988 contracts in April. BMW was second with 1,116 and Seat third with 1,058 leases in the month.