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Days before the Faconauto Annual Congress begins, one of the most important events for sellers, the employer takes stock of 2022 and advances forecasts for 2023. In a panorama with lights and shadows, dealers are against the Euro standard 7 and the forced electrification of the market.
Next we review some of the keys of the sector from the point of view of the distributors.
job losses
“In the last five years, 8,000 jobs have been lost in the automobile sector,” said Gerardo Pérez, president of Faconauto. The worst thing for employers is that everything indicates that sick leave will continue to increase in the coming months.
In this regard, Pérez points out several fundamental causes. The first and most important, sales. “We cannot afford sales below 800,000 units,” says the president of the vendors’ association. And his forecasts indicate that this year we will not reach the threshold of one million registrations that all experts consider key to the recovery of the sector.
Less sales, but more profitability
Although without reaching the 3% of the billing volume that Facounato considers as the percentage from which a dealership begins to be really profitable, the balance for 2022 indicates that the points of sale have registered a profitability of 2.1%.
“It is the highest figure in the last 12 years,” they say. And it is here where we find one of the highlights of the sector for the coming months, as they expect the profitability of the dealers, like that of the manufacturers, to continue in crescendo.
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The question is: if fewer cars are registered, why is making and selling them increasingly profitable?
For dealers, one of the keys is the reduction in the number of models and, above all, versions for sale. “There has been a rationalization of the offer and that contributes to the profitability of the dealers who can adjust their volume of purchases (self-registrations) more to the demand)”, explains Gerardo Pérez.
The rise in the price of cars that the president of Faconauto has estimated at 8,000 euros since 2017 also influences.
Against the Euro 7 standard
Manufacturers and distributors also agree that the new European emission regulations, Euro 7, will not help the sector, quite the contrary.
Yesterday, the heads of the National Association of Manufacturers (ANFAC) asked the Government for Spain to position itself against the Euro 7 standard as it may be the end of cars as we know them. The dealers, in addition to being happy because “other organizations are beginning to speak clearly”, agree that the standard “will mean that many cars that are manufactured today cannot be marketed in two years”.
Their forecasts also indicate that meeting the emission limits will make the price of cars between 2,000 and 3,000 euros more expensive.
And against the forced electrification of the sector
Gerardo Pérez has also spoken about the ban on registering combustion cars from 2035 approved by Europe.
On electric mobility there is once again a consensus between manufacturers and sellers. The latter are calling for government measures to encourage the sale of zero-emission models and many agree with those that brands have been defending for some time: reduction or elimination of VAT, more benefits for electric cars…
For those who wear the DGT zero emissions label to be a real alternative, they are asking for a faster Moves Plan and for speeding up the procedures for the installation of charging points. “There are more charging points in dealerships than on public roads,” they say.
“The large investments have been made by the dealer networks, not the administrations,” said Pérez, which is why they also ask that the dealers have options for PERTE aid.
