64% of passenger cars either do not have an environmental label or only B, being the cause of 91.4% of polluting emissions
Cars in Spain are older than in the rest of Europe. The average age of the national car fleet rose again by 3% in 2021 to stand at 13.5 years, two more than the average European age of 11.15 years, as indicated in the latest Anfac annual report ( Spanish Association of Automobile and Truck Manufacturers).
At the end of 2021, almost 64% of passenger cars circulating in Spain were more than ten years old. According to Anfac, the microchip crisis and the economic uncertainty derived from the pandemic have “conditioned the pace of market recovery”, which has led to a further slowdown in the renovation of the park. Thus, since 2007, when the average age of the automobile fleet in Spain was only 8 years, it has been aging year after year until reaching 13.5 in 2021.
Its data indicates that in 2021, for each new passenger car registered, 1.26 million passenger cars over 10 years old were sold, a figure much higher than the nearly 860,000 new ones, “diverting the market towards older, more polluting vehicles , delaying the renovation of the park and hindering the fulfillment of the decarbonization objectives », they explain from the association. Moreover, passenger cars sold over 20 years old exceeded 300,000 units, 32% more than the previous year.
At the end of the year, 31.5% of passenger cars in Spain had a B label (the lowest) and 33.2% were not labeled due to being overage or emissions. These vehicles (64% of all those circulating in Spain) are the cause of 91.4% of polluting emissions.
José López-Tafall, general director of Anfac, considers that if the objectives of the European Union to reduce emissions are to be achieved, it is “essential” that in addition to the “ambitious plan to promote electrification”, there are “measures that help rejuvenate and renovate the car fleet’. “If we don’t work on it, the advances made in terms of electrification that we have been striving for in recent years will be minimized by the emissions from the aging of the fleet,” he says.
According to the labels of the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT), the ‘Zero’ models experienced a growth of 72%, while those of the ‘Eco’ label vehicles increased by 40%. Even so, this type of vehicle only represents 0.54% and 2.7%, respectively, of the total Spanish car park. On their side, vehicles with a ‘C’ label increased by 7.4% compared to last year.
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