Vehicle production in Spain continues to decline, with seven months of reduction of vehicles leaving the country's plants. In the month of May, there were 294,146 vehicles, a 6% off than in the same month of previous year. Thus, all the months of the current year have closed in negative for the production with what registers a fall of 5.6% in the accumulated of the year with a total of 1,275,895 units.
European markets, the main buyers of Spanish vehicles, continue to register weakness, which affects Spanish plants. Although in the month of May, the registrations in the whole of the EU have ended in positive, it treats of a very slight growth of 0,1%, what does think about a stagnation of the registrations in the countries. In the year as a whole, sales of new vehicles decreased by 2.1%. The main buyers of Spanish cars recorded decreases in deliveries, with the exception of Germany, which grew by a discrete 1.7%.
Production by segments
By type of vehicle, in the month of May, the production of off-road vehicles (pick-ups) and that of passenger cars are the ones with the most pronounced falls. Specifically, the rate of decline in the manufacture of pick-ups is 16.8%, up to 4,224 units and that of passenger cars is 7.2%, to 231,355 units. The production of passenger cars and off-road vehicles accumulated falls of 6.7% and 18.4% respectively in the first five months of the year.
The production of commercial and industrial vehicles closed May in positive but by very few tenths, a slight 0.1% increase, to 58,567 units, backed, above all, by the rise of the industrialists, which are the only segment with all your categories in positive. The production of light commercial vehicles fell by 2% with 29,054 units manufactured. Heavy industrial vehicles are the ones that grow the most, with 55.8% more than the same month of 2018.
Vehicle export
In May, 240,011 vehicles were exported, representing a decrease of 4.6% compared to the same month of the previous year. In the first five months of the year, the export of vehicles has fallen by 5.7% compared to the same period of the previous year, with 1,024,704 units shipped outside our borders.
The export continues being penalized by the weakness of important European markets. Specifically, the United Kingdom registered a fall of its market of 3.1%, due to an outcome of the ever closer Brexit without an internal agreement on the ways in which it should occur and a very weak government that led to the resignation of Theresa May on June 7.
The very high level of debt in Italy, which makes it one of the biggest concerns in Europe, causes a drop in deliveries of new vehicles of 3.8%. To this situation of weakness in two of the main markets for Spanish exports, are added Holland and Portugal. Sales in their respective markets fell by 10.3% and 4.7%, respectively. In addition, the continuity of the crisis in Turkey means that exports to this destination have practically been reduced by 70% when a year ago it was one of the three main destinations outside the European Union for Spanish vehicles.
By type of vehicle they have been exported 195,746 passenger cars in the fifth month of the year with a decrease of 3.8% compared to May 2018, and 3,962 all-terrain vehicles, which is 17% less. As to commercial and industrial vehicles, a total of 40,303 units have been exported, which is 7.1% less than in the same period of the previous year. In May, the export of industrial vehicles increases, highlighting the heavy ones.