Mature Market Vehicle Production : Spain

SEAT cars are still made, but now owned by VW

Spain is the 9th largest car market in the world and second largest in Europe. The country has a long history with car production, since 1953 when SEAT and Renault both started to make cars there. In the 1960's Citroën, Chrysler and BMC (Authi) opened plants. The 1970's saw the end of Authi but Ford came along.

In the 1980's GM and VW joined car production in Spain, while Chrysler changed to Peugeot. Mercedes came along in the 1990's. Nissan and Mazda arrived and disappeared in the 2000's. Nissan and Audi cars became part of the car making landscape in the 2010's.

Looking at the chart below production for cars as discussed above. Added to that is commercial vehicle production. Between the two it shows a successful industry.

	Year	Vehicle	Car	CV	% CV
	1955	14,300	14,300	?
	1960	58,200	42,500	15,700	27.0%
	1965	220,700	144,500	76,200	34.5%
	1970	539,100	450,400	88,700	16.5%
	1975	814,100	696,100	118,000	14.5%
	1980	1,181,300	1,028,800	152,500	12.9%
	1985	1,317,600	1,130,100	187,500	14.2%
	1990	2,053,300	1,679,300	374,000	18.2%
	1995	2,333,800	1,958,800	375,000	16.1%
	2000	3,032,900	2,366,400	666,500	22.0%
	2005	2,752,500	2,098,200	654,300	23.8%
	2010	2,388,700	1,913,500	475,200	19.9%
	2014	2,402,900	1,898,300	504,600	21.0%

Summary: For a country that doesn't have a national car maker, it has survived very well. It is down on the peak years a decade ago, but is still doing well. Lower wages and an environment conducive to doing business in Spain is keeping the car industry healthy.