Without taking our foot off the accelerator towards electrification

The proposal in December 2019 of the European Green Deal set very demanding emission reduction targets for European car manufacturers. And in July 2021, in the midst of the post-COVID hangover, Ursula von der Leyen's Commission and Vice-President Timmermans (who did not even finish his term) decided that the sector had to accelerate even more, forcing the automotive industry to be the only European economic sector that is not only fined if it does not sell certain products, but must change all its factories or close them before 2035. Thus began the most demanding sectoral regulatory imposition in the world on the most globalised and competition-exposed European industrial sector. The result is a race to electrification in which it's not enough to win: you also have to break a specific record. In this case, 2035.

In this scenario, automotive brands are fully committed to sustainability and decarbonisation, and they took on the challenge. A necessary commitment from all agents, sectors, and governments with the same measure of responsibility and urgency.

A decade later, with more than €250 billion invested in the development and transition to the electric car, the European automotive industry has become the main supporter and driver of this transition. Brands continue to increase their commercial efforts, expanding their offer (we now have more than 380 variants between pure electric and plug-in hybrids), and are launching huge investment projects to transform their plants and, in addition, create gigafactories.  But has it been enough?

No, because the race has a clear finish line set in 2035 with the end of the market for new combustion passenger cars and commercial vehicles in Europe. That is, by 2035, 100% of the market must be zero-emission, whether electric or any technology that can meet this demand.

With a decade to go to reach this date, with data from July 2025 for passenger cars, 16% of the market in Europe is pure electric. This figure has improved by 3.5 percentage points compared to the previous year. In the case of Spain, the hill is a bit steeper: up to July this year, the pure electric market is at 8%.

It is positive that it shows this evolution, but the question is whether it is feasible to reach a full zero-emission market in ten years, that is, with the current EU regulation, a market where 100% of the cars and vans sold are 100% electric.

The sector's commitment to reducing emissions and decarbonised mobility is total. But to achieve these objectives, the automotive sector cannot go it alone, and the entire value chain, starting with those who set the objectives (the governments), should do their part. If the process is not harmonious, and manufacturers continue alone, in a changing global environment with unforeseen strategic risks in 2021, Europe will have put one of its key sectors for employment, exports, and innovation into a dead end. And that will have a cost or will force a change in certain policies... or both at the same time.

ANFAC in Spain, and ACEA in Europe, have been insisting for years that the enabling conditions are needed to trigger the shift in demand and the move towards green mobility for European society, along with industrial and competitiveness measures that strengthen our industry. Because objectives backed by resources are ambitions... but when they are not accompanied by measures and responsibilities, they become mere pipe dreams.

ACEA and CLEPA (the European automotive suppliers' association) recently addressed Ursula von der Leyen to reiterate their concern with a clear message: 'The green transition plan is unfeasible without a change of course.' A letter that insists that the EU's roadmap must 'overcome idealism' and recognise the current industrial and geopolitical reality. 

Europe and all its members, including Spain, imposed the demanding objectives of the Fit for 55 on the sector, and only the sector, in 2021, going much further than what was presented in 2019 as a major effort (the European Green Deal). As I will never tire of repeating, in the European regulatory framework created with Fit for 55, it is not enough to do well; you have to grow at the dizzying pace required by European regulation. So the sector insists on continuing to promote measures to consolidate a market that is still finding its footing. Because for Spain and Europe, its industry and employment, this struggle is not trivial, but vital: our entire automotive sector, one of the cornerstones of the Spanish and European economy, is at stake. And accelerating the pace of electrification must be a priority to preserve it.

While it is true that in 2025 electrification has shifted up a gear, with nearly 18% of the passenger car market so far this year and a charging infrastructure that now exceeds 48,000 public access points, this cannot be a reason to relax or stagnate. Because if we don't take advantage of the current momentum, we may lose a crucial opportunity to establish it permanently in the market. But the effort must not only come from the brands; it must be accompanied by significant measures.

A couple of examples. The first is that the funds for the MOVES plan are currently exhausted in most of the Autonomous Communities, including such important markets as Madrid, Catalonia, Galicia, and the Basque Country. Just when it seems we are breaking free from inertia, the system runs out again and creates confusion. A second example: we have been without an aid plan for the electrification of heavy-duty vehicles since May 2024.

What can we do? At ANFAC, we insist that for our industry to have a future and for us to get closer to meeting the targets in Spain, we must act on three fronts.

First, an industrial policy that strengthens our capabilities, those of the entire value chain, and ensures that new technologies maintain local added value. Because destroying the Spanish industrial value chain just to meet an environmental market objective would be a very bad deal.

Second, a demand-side policy that accompanies (and makes profitable) the industrial effort with efficient and sustained aid plans over time, for both passenger cars and for trucks and buses (often forgotten in this process). As well as a tax system that incentivises, and does not penalise, the transition.

And finally, a coordinated national charging infrastructure policy with clear objectives and responsibilities. Despite the growth in the number of charging points, it is urgent to accelerate and plan infrastructure around the electric vehicle: more chargers, especially high-power ones (over 150kW), with guaranteed operation and visibility on the road network. It is paradoxical (or illustrative, probably both at the same time) that a country that pioneered the declaration of a climate emergency in 2020 still does not have road signs indicating the location of charging points five years later. 

We at ANFAC have promoted all these measures, and many more, with our project to create a Spain AUTO Plan 2030 - 2035, a Roadmap worked on and agreed upon by ANFAC with the Government and other agents of the value chain during the first half of 2025. A plan that seeks to maintain the value of our automotive industry in the new decarbonised scenario, and which is a proposal with analysis, measures, and a participatory monitoring mechanism that guarantees its continuity and allows us to remain at the forefront of electrification.

A plan that has already been made and that needs to be implemented immediately. It is no longer a time for requests, but a time for action. Because decarbonisation is already underway and the future of our industry is at stake. That's what we're working on.