Spain has been reinforced this week its role as a world power as a producer of vehicles. In recent days the Vigo and Figueruelas factories have been awarded the production of five new models, including the popular Opel Corsa and its new electric version, which will be built in the Aragonese factory from 2020.
Both factories belong to the French conglomerate PSA, owner of the Peugeot, Citroën, DS and Opel brands and the first vehicle manufacturer in Spain. In the awards, which guarantee the workload for at least five years, the competitiveness of both facilities has weighed. In the case of the Zaragoza factory, however, what decided the balance to obtain the new Corsa was the commitment of the staff in the new collective agreement that, according to the company, will “significantly” increase its efficiency.
“Maintaining competitiveness is essential, and that affects all areas, including plants,” said Opel CEO Michael Lohscheller. In exchange for the wage freeze during 2018, a rise of 50% of the CPI in 2019 and 2020, and 60% in 2020 and 2021, and a reduction of 5% in the amounts of the bonuses for holidays and nocturnal, Figueruelas made sure the exclusive worldwide production of the model-awarded to the plant at the end of 2016 by the previous owners of Opel, General Motors-, after running a serious risk of losing it, last January, due to the lack of agreement between the workers and the new management , named after the PSA disembarkation.
Eighth world manufacturer
Our country is the eighth largest producer of automobiles and light commercial vehicles, with 2,848,335 units in 2017. Competitiveness is precisely the main value of the 17 Spanish factories, which manufacture 43 models, 20 of them worldwide, and generate, together with the component industry, 300,000 direct jobs and two indirect jobs.
“We manufacture well and at a competitive cost”, summarizes Mario Armero, executive vice-president of the Spanish association of automobile and truck manufacturers, Anfac. The Spanish industry is the third most efficient and modern continent, only surpassed by Germany and the United Kingdom, according to the sectorial agenda of the automotive industry, prepared by Anfac, Sernauto and KPMG, the document that gathers the challenges of the sector during the next years. The strong investments made in the last five years, amounting to 8,000 million euros, have also contributed to its efficiency and have served to begin preparing the factories for the changes that are revolutionizing the sector, such as the connected vehicle and electrification.
“Over the next year or year and a half, more than a dozen new models will arrive in Spanish factories,” Armero says. «At least half of them will have an alternative version (electric, hybrid or gas powered)». Good example is the own Corsa, whose electrical version will be mounted in the same line that the versions diesel and gasoline. It will be a qualitative leap for our industry, since it will be the first mass-produced electric tourism to be manufactured in Spain, where the Citroen Berlingo Electric vans, Peugeot Partner Electric, Nissan NV200, Mercedes Vito e-Cell, the electric quadricycle are also produced Twizy of Renault and the hybrid version of the Ford Mondeo, in addition to several models of electric motorcycles.
“The Spanish factories have always adapted to the latest technologies and will continue to do so in the future,” Armero defends. In this regard, it should be noted that Opel managers also opened the door to manufacture, in a second phase, the batteries of the model in the Zaragoza plant itself, which would be a pioneering landing in Spain of a technology that up to now monopolizes China and China. South Korea. According to EU estimates, the demand for these equipment will reach 200 GWh by 2025, so the EU block will need to build ten “gigafábricas” of batteries to satisfy it.
Slowdown in 2017
With the investments made in recent years, the industry expects to overcome the slump of 2017, when production fell by 1.5% after five consecutive years of strong increases. Part of this decline is explained by the difficulties that crossed some of our main markets, such as the United Kingdom -by Brexit and the weakness of the pound sterling-, and Turkey (our main extra-European market), which affected an industry that exports 85% of production. Also by the paralysis of several assembly lines to adapt them to the new models awarded last year, such as Landaben (Navarra), where the Volkswagen Polo is manufactured, the third best-selling car in Europe.
From the sector, however, also warn that the fall of last year is a wake-up call for our plants, as contrasts with the increases recorded in other countries with which we compete directly for the award of new models, such as France and Italy. “We should not indulge in complacency and think that everything is done: this is a continuous evaluation and we have to work every day to maintain what has been achieved,” explains Armero. “Across Europe there are 230 factories where vehicles are manufactured: competition is tremendous.”
Source: Global Car