The Automobile Association of Portugal (ACAP) revealed that the number of motor vehicles registered in 2023 grew by 26% compared to the year 2022. Despite the increase, ACAP acknowledges that the numbers are still below those recorded in 2029 (a decrease of 12.3%).
The data was revealed by the Association at the Automotive Retail Forum, an event that took place in Lisbon, with the theme “Driving Towards New Mobility,” which provided an overview of the sector.
The number of sustainable vehicles continues to increase
With an increase in registrations in all vehicle categories, 2023 showed a preference for more sustainable vehicles. “In the category of passenger cars – where there was a growth of 26.9% in registered vehicles compared to 2022 – alternative energy vehicles to combustion engines account for 51.9%. Within these, electric vehicles represent a total of 18.2%, followed by hybrids (14.5%) and plug-in hybrids (13.6%). Gasoline and diesel vehicles represent 36% and 12% of registered passenger cars last year, respectively,” ACAP stated in a press release.
“Current data also indicates that Portugal had a growth above the European Union (14.6%) in this category of vehicles, ranking in the top 10 with 18.2%. Although the numbers are promising, alternative energy passenger cars still represent only 5% of the Portuguese automobile fleet. Diesel vehicles still account for a higher percentage (58.2%), followed by gasoline cars (36.6%)”.
The automobile fleet continues to age
Despite the noted growth, ACAP reveals that the numbers still fall below those recorded in 2019. “In the category of passenger cars, there was a decrease of 11.2% in registered vehicles. Light commercial vehicles, on the other hand, grew by 20.7% last year, a value that is still lower when compared to 2019 – a decrease of 26%. Only heavy vehicles show an effective increase compared to 2019, with 33.7% more registered vehicles. Regarding car rental, there was also an increase of 50.7% in 2023,” the ACAP statement adds.
However, according to the Association’s data, Portugal still has an aging automobile fleet, particularly when compared to other European Union countries. “Of the 5.6 million vehicles in circulation in 2021, 63% were over 10 years old. In 2022, 1.5 million vehicles in circulation were over 20 years old, highlighting that in that year the average age of vehicles delivered for scrapping was 23.8 years. Light commercial vehicles and heavy goods vehicles are currently the oldest vehicles in the national automobile fleet, with an age above 15 years. They are followed by heavy passenger vehicles (14 years) and passenger cars (13.6 years),” the statement emphasizes.
ACAP provides recommendations
In order to seek the renewal of the automobile fleet in Portugal, ACAP proposed the “reintroduction of mechanisms to incentivize the scrapping of end-of-life vehicles, to accelerate the replacement of older and more polluting conventional vehicles with low-emission vehicles, as happened in Spain, Italy, or France.” The Association also emphasizes the importance of removing from circulation “end-of-life vehicles with average CO2 emissions of 170 g/km, replacing them with vehicles with average emissions of 95 g/km (including electric, plug-in hybrid, gasoline, and diesel vehicles),” ACAP adds.
It is worth noting that the scrapping incentive carried out in 2022 resulted in an energy saving of 3.2 million liters of fuel per year, equivalent to 33,200 barrels of oil. In terms of emissions, there was a reduction of 10,800 tons of CO2 per year.
