MADRID: Volkswagen and Renault plan to request funds from a revamped Spanish government scheme to encourage electric vehicle (EV) production in the country with Stellantis and newcomer AEHRA expected to do so at the same time, the carmakers told Reuters.
Madrid would launch a new and more flexible version of the PERTE scheme around July 2023, worth 2 billion euros after the previous year’s initial funding round flopped, with only 27% of an earmarked 2.9 billion euros allocated.
It hopes the programme, which draws on European Union (EU) pandemic support funds, would help Spain – Europe’s second, largest car producer, stay in the electric vehicle race after losing out on investment to regional rivals and further afield.
Need to expand EV capacity
With subsidies offered by the US under the Inflation Reduction Act adding to competition from lower-cost countries in the European Union East, expanding electric vehicle capacity is vital for Spain’s industrial future.
“Spain tried the good it could with the first (PERTE), but we need to ensure that the second one is much better and more flexible,” said chief executive Wayne Griffiths of Volkswagen’s Spanish unit SEAT and chairman of the ANFAC Spanish vehicle manufacturing association.
“We need to speed up. We cannot afford to lose any more time.”
VW will submit the latest PERTE request, which could imply manufacturing additional electric vehicles and assembling batteries in Spain.
France’s Renault, which records show received forty million euros in the first PERTE, intends to participate in the latest funding round, its chief strategy officer for the Spanish market Josep Maria Recasens told Reuters.
Recasens said that Renault could decide to manufacture more hybrid vehicles in Spain depending on the timeline and conditions.
