Auto lobby urges Spain to speed up vehicle electrification as sales lag

An electric vehicle is plugged into an Iberdrola charging station in Bilbao, Spain, October 25, 2022. REUTERS/Vincent West

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's auto industry is in dire need of an overhaul to catch up with European peers and speed up its electrification process as automakers struggle to recover from a pandemic-induced slump, the country's biggest manufacturers' lobby said on Tuesday.

As elsewhere in Europe, Spanish car production has been hampered in the past few years by semiconductor shortages, temporary factory closures and supply chain bottlenecks after the 2020 global outbreak of the COVID-19 disease.