MADRID: The latest figures regarding new car sales in Spain show that the upward trend is continuing, with totals beginning to approach those recorded before the effects of the economic crisis began to be felt in 2007 and 2008.
The 94,030 vehicles sold in May represented an increase of 14% compared to the same month last year, and during the first five months of the year the accumulated total stands at exactly 443,888 vehicles, 21.4% higher than at the same point in 2014.
Demand for new motor vehicles has now been increasing for 21 consecutive months, and the signs of recovery are sufficient for the government to have decided that the eighth PIVE scrappage subsidy scheme which has just been launched will be the last. The average of 4,500 sales per day in May was boosted by the first few days of PIVE 8 being in force, and the targeted annual sales figure of 1.2 million now appears almost to be within reach.
Half of the current market consists of individual buyers, where new car sales have risen 22.4% so far this year, while sales to companies have gone up by 31%. Demand from hire car companies has risen by comparatively little (12.1%) so far in 2015. The most popular model of car during May was the Citroën C4, with 3,315 sales, followed by the Seat Ibiza, the Seat León, the Renault Mégane and the VW Golf.
