New-vehicle sales in Spain declined 7.3 percent in May to 125,625, according to the industry association ANFAC.
Demand from private customers and sales to rental companies both slipped 11 percent — to 54,485 and 34,054, respectively. Registrations by companies increased 3.6 percent to 37,086.
Last month had the same number of selling days as May 2018.
Diesel vehicles continued their slide, with sales down 26 percent to 35,607 last month. The diesel market share was down to 28.3 percent in May from 35.3 percent in May 2018 but up from 27.3 percent in April.
Sales of gasoline cars were down 3.7 percent to 75,068 for a 59.8 percent share, the lowest in 2019 — although still slightly up from 59 percent a year ago.
Sales of all electrified cars — full-electric and hybrid — plus vehicles powered by liquefied petroleum gas and compressed natural gas jumped 54 percent to 14,950 units and claimed a 11.9 percent market share, up from 7.1 percent in May 2018. Sales of full-electric cars jumped 167 percent to 900 and took a 0.7 percent share.
Noemi Navas, director of communication for ANFAC, said May registrations have resumed a downward slope after the April recovery, which was attributable to purchases by rental companies around Easter week.
Navas said she hopes the end of the election will bring more political stability, which in turn should help consumer confidence. Spain held Parliament elections at the end of April, followed by European Parliament elections May 26.
According to the dealer association FACONAUTO, sales in Spain will drop 5 percent to 1.2 million units in 2019 and remain there in 2020.