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Date Published: 03/01/2022

ARCHIVED - Vehicle registration tax in Spain increases by 1,000 euros

ARCHIVED ARTICLE

The price hike will impact the sale of 100,000 vehicles across Spain

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - Vehicle registration tax in Spain increases by 1,000 euros

After a particularly difficult year across the globe, 2022 isn’t starting out much better for drivers in Spain, who will have to pay an inflated registration cost from January 1 for the privilege of purchasing a new vehicle. The price hike, which will represent an increase of around 1,000 euros per car, comes as a result of the new WLTP (World Harmonised Light Vehicles Test Procedure) cycle which rates the fuel economy and CO2 emission of cars.

According to the Federation of Automotive Dealers Associations (Faconauto), the tax increase will only serve to “demobilise” sales, as happened during the first half of 2021, which will result in the loss of between 70,000 and 100,000 new vehicle registrations in Spain this year.

First implemented in 2018, the WLTP system aims to promote a greener environment by ensuring that fuel consumption and emissions approved by vehicles are more in line with reality; for this reason, most models have been forced to increase the number of grams of carbon dioxide that they allow, pushing up the price of the vehicle since registration tax in Spain is directly linked to emissions.

Since its inception, the WLTP has meant that the tax paid on most cars increased to 4.75%, a figure which could climb as high as 14.75% for higher emissions. However, as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and in an attempt to lessen the burden on the flailing automotive industry, the Congress of Deputies approved a registration tax freeze in June last year.

The “unfreezing” of this tax at the beginning of 2022 will affect around 40% of newly registered vehicles according to the latest estimates by the National Association of Vehicle Sellers (Ganvam) and the worldwide delivery delay of new vehicles means that drivers who purchased a new car six or even eight months ago will now be subject to the price hike.

In 2020, the average vehicle, including registration tax, had a price tag of 19,341 euros and this increased by around 6.36% in 2021. However, due in large part to the push towards electric models, CO2 emissions actually dropped. Unfortunately, by the end of November 2021, vehicles registered in Spain emitted 126 grams of carbon monoxide on average, an increase of 10.5%.

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