Four years ago, 52 automotive companies—60% of them SMEs—in Spain joined forces under the Fast Forward (F3) umbrella. Spain and Catalonia were determined to work together to further promote electric vehicles and everything related to them. This meant not only securing their place among the population—so that they would replace combustion engine cars—but also boosting their production: from components to complete manufacturing. Europe was also investing heavily, making electric cars a key priority for European anti-pandemic funds linked to the Recovery Plan. In fact, the group's genesis lies in the ability to develop sufficiently mature projects that covered the entire value chain to secure maximum funding from this European windfall. In Spain's case, this funding has been channeled through a specific strategic project, known as PERTE.

The decision ofeliminate the ban on the sale of combustion engine vehicles The announcement that the new regulations will be in place from January 1, 2035, has caught many off guard. However, this announcement has been brewing for some time in the ongoing discussions about environmental and industrial policies. In fact, the European Commission's (EC) directive to phase out the sale of fossil fuel-powered vehicles was launched in July 2021 and definitively approved by the European Parliament in February 2023. The Commission has now decided to amend the directive, reducing the initial target of a 100% reduction in CO₂ emissions for new vehicles to 90%. This change will allow for the limited sale of combustion engine vehicles beyond 2035, thus marking a relaxation of the European Green Deal.

The strong sales figures for Chinese brands like MG, Omoda, Jaecoo, Leapmotor, and Lynk&Co in the Spanish market during 2025 are just the vanguard of the large-scale Chinese automotive rollout that the Asian giant has designed in southern Europe, with Barcelona and Catalonia as its spearhead.

The change of course in European guidelines on combustion engine vehicles from 2035 onwards and that They eliminate the ban on diesel and gasoline vehicles. It has generated quite a few doubts about what new cars Europeans will be able to buy in a horizon of just ten years.

"It's a historic mistake." With these words, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez described the European Commission's proposal to lift the total ban on the sale of combustion engine vehicles starting in 2035, thus weakening one of the key principles of the European Green Deal. "It's a historic mistake for Europe because competitiveness is guaranteed through sustainability, not by weakening our climate commitments," Sánchez stated this Wednesday during his speech at the presentation of the State Pact for the Climate Emergency in Madrid. Now, the proposal must be negotiated between the Council and the European Parliament for final adoption. In the Spanish government's opinion, the argument of the automotive industry's competitiveness, which European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen used this Tuesday to defend the proposal, is not robust enough to justify reversing the progress toward the energy transition and the fight against climate change.

The green transition in the European Union (EU) is becoming increasingly less vibrant. The radical change in the roadmap that the bloc had established for the phasing out of combustion engine cars is proof of this. There is a big difference between prohibiting its sale from 2035 onwards and removing this limitation.Pressure from the automotive industry, which wields considerable influence in countries like Germany, has ultimately weakened the European Commission's regulations. And this is not the only setback—or, as the European Commission calls it, a relaxation—of the EU's climate plan for the automotive sector. Not long ago, it also postponed for three years the entry into force of sanctions against automotive groups that fail to meet CO₂ emissions standards. And the previous Commission, also headed by Ursula von der Leyen, who retained her mandate after last year's European elections, had already relaxed environmental requirements following protests by European farmers.

Coinciding with the Guangzhou Motor Show, local manufacturer Leapmotor has unveiled the new A10, a compact SUV measuring 4.31 meters long, 1.83 meters wide and 1.68 meters high, which takes advantage of the brand's new electric model platform and offers technology and space as its main selling points.

Until recently, it was completely unthinkable that a pickup truck or pick up It doesn't use a traditional combustion engine. These vehicles, designed for rural environments and work tasks, have always used diesel engines in Europe or powerful gasoline engines in the United States, where this type of vehicle is most popular. But Toyota has surprised everyone by announcing new fully electric and hydrogen fuel cell powertrains for the new generation of the Hilux, which will arrive on the market during the first half of 2026.

Mercedes-Benz is an iconic and prestigious brand that, over the years, has become synonymous with quality and elegance, but it has never renounced its avant-garde approach and the use of new technologies associated with electric, connected, and intelligent vehicles. The latest step in the brand's evolution is the striking Vision Iconic prototype, a model capable of uniting luxury, exclusivity, innovation, and sustainability in a concept that promises to advance the automotive world.

The two main problems when considering the purchase of an electric car are the range and the high price, which often makes the transition to electric mobility inaccessible to a large part of the population. Dacia wants to advance its plan to democratize access to electric mobility, with its new prototype named Hipster Concept, in reference to its urban, countercultural and somewhat indie, far from the trend of the major European manufacturers.

Many people feel lost, or at least somewhat confused, when it comes to buying their first electric car. Electric vehicle sales are increasing across Europe, although at a slower pace than predicted by major manufacturers and governments in 2020, during the first phase of the coronavirus pandemic. The two main obstacles raised by potential buyers of electric vehicles, which are holding back many last-minute sales in favor of plug-in hybrid or conventional hybrid vehicles, are the actual range of these vehicles and their high price.

Barcelona is the city in the entire Spanish state where it is most expensive to park a vehicle with an ECO label (hybrid cars or alternative fuels such as natural gas) and the third city in the state where it is most expensive to park vehicles with the zero-emission environmental label (fully electric cars or plug-in hybrids), as indicated by a study by Bipi, the company specializing in subscription vehicles of the Renault group.

That China manufactures more electric cars than any other country in the world is no secret or great news, but the Asian giant's automotive industry can now boast a truly spectacular milestone: they have become the first to manufacture a production electric vehicle with a power output of over 3,000 hp and capable of challenging supercar records in the Bu. YangWang U9 Track Edition is the sportiest and most radical version of BYD's luxury subsidiary, a vehicle capable of beating the times of many Ferrari, Lamborghini, Bugatti or Porsche models on a track, to name a few of the illustrious names in the European automotive aristocracy.

The leading electric car manufacturer in Europe is no longer Tesla, due to the sharp drop in sales of Elon Musk's brand in recent months. The new leader is now Volkswagen, thanks to the good sales performance of its ID.2, ID.4, and ID.7 vehicles, which have sold more than 119,000 units during the first six months of the year in the European market, compared to 109,000 sold by Tesla.

Starting today, individual buyers, companies and various local public administrations can now request and start the process to obtain the necessary subsidies for the Moves III plan. The plan, which will be in effect until December 31, mobilizes a total of €400 million in aid for the purchase of electric vehicles and the installation of electric car charging stations, but the budget transfer corresponding to Catalonia will ultimately amount to €65 million of the initial allocation. These grants are managed by the various regional administrations, and in the case of Catalonia, the responsible body is the Catalan Energy Institute (ICAEN), which will apply the management model established by state regulations.

Ferrari customers don't want electric cars, says a Reuters report. Internal company sources assure this outlet that there is "zero demand" for the brand's electric-powered sports cars, even though these are equally or more powerful than equivalent combustion models. Astronomical prices for limited and exclusive units.

One of the main concerns when changing a car is how many kilometers it has and how many years of service it can handle without serious breakdowns. A study by the University of Birmingham and of the London School of Economicscarried out on 30 million vehicles and with more than 300 million records of breakdowns and incidents, it has allowed us to approximate the real useful life of current cars.

Nissan has unveiled the sixth generation of the Micra, its B-segment utility vehicle, with which it hopes to conquer the European market. With this goal, Nissan has attempted to repeat the successful formula that worked for it in the past, with an elegant body reminiscent of the third-generation Micra, which was on sale from 2002 to 2010 and was the last major model. hit Japanese trade in Europe. 

Honda is one of Japan's largest companies, boasting a healthy, well-run company with a lean and adequate product range across all its business divisions, especially in the manufacture of cars and motorcycles. Honda was also one of the first brands to invest in electric cars, with the aim ofHonda and, a good product that failed to gain popularity with the general public and which the brand withdrew from the market a few months ago after commercial results far below initial expectations.

The price of new electric cars is not, at this time, a facilitating factor for most private buyers in our country. Electric cars are still more expensive than combustion engine vehicles, despite institutional campaigns and aid, promotions, and discounts subject to financing from major manufacturers. Precisely for this reason, a substantial increase in demand for used electric vehicles has been detected, which in many cases are depreciate much more rapidly than equivalent combustion-engine vehicles. It's clear, then, that buying an electric car on the secondhand market can be a very good idea to find a product at a more affordable price for most budgets, as long as we know the vehicle's actual condition and, if possible, as much information as possible about its service history.