Inauguración, Josu Jon Imaz | Congreso Faconauto 2026

President of Faconauto, Marta Vázquez, thank you very much for the invitation. It is a genuine honor for me to be here today. Susana Solís, Member of Parliament, thank you for defending industry and competitiveness in a difficult environment in Europe. Ladies and gentlemen, I am very comfortable here and the truth is, I could have left immediately because after hearing Marta, Alberto, Ángela, and Susana, I was thinking, what can I add? I could say, 'I agree, I'll leave and sit down.' But well, next time Marta might not invite me again, and since I enjoy coming, because I feel at home, because I identify with what you represent, and I've been able to hear reflections of great interest during this time we've been here, I want to highlight the importance of this sector.

The entire value chain of what you represent is practically 10% of Spanish GDP. We are talking about something very important in our economy. The entire automotive value chain, in which you are, let's say, the part in contact with the customer, is practically 9% of employment in Spain and is a very important sector for the Spanish economy because we are also the second-largest European car manufacturer and the ninth-largest in the world, which for our size is a lot.

And allow me to tell you that from my point of view, this sector in Spain and Europe needs three things. Simply three things, nothing more, but three things that we need and that you need to continue generating wealth for the country. First, something very obvious and Alberto Nadal also said it: that people can afford to buy a car, that they have purchasing power for it, and for this you need a competitive economy. Second, that people know which car to buy, that they don't move in a sea of doubts, because when one moves in a sea of doubts, what happens is that the purchase decision is delayed. In short, what you need is certainty. And third, that people can buy a car they like, a car that meets their needs. In short, something that was also said here today, which is that there should be freedom of choice, and this links directly with 'You Decide,' which is the theme of this event.

Let's go to the first objective. We need a competitive economy so that people can afford to buy a car. And I believe we need a very serious reflection at the European level. Fifteen years ago, or as they say, yesterday, the American economy and the European economy were approximately the same size. We were 21 or 22% of the total world economy. Only 15 years have passed. Today the North American economy is 26% of the world economy. The European economy is between 16 and 17%. Therefore, the European economy has shrunk. Some might say, economic data, right? But behind these economic data there are people's lives. Look, I am 62 years old, I was born in 1963, and I'm looking around here and well, there are people quite a bit younger, but I'm also seeing some from my generation.

For those of us from my generation, for those of us born in the 1960s or even the early 1970s, when we were born, and we may have different socioeconomic circumstances, different regional circumstances, different environments, but I believe one thing unites us all. When we were born, our parents were convinced that our lives would be better than theirs. Absolutely. And this generates excitement, this generates hope, this generates the desire to work to build a future. What happens now, unfortunately, in Europe? That the parents of those who are today 20, 22 years old, or of those who are born, I don't know what will happen because the world can turn many ways, but they are convinced that their children's lives will be worse than theirs. And this generates fear, this generates uncertainty, this generates distrust, this generates dread.

Therefore, we must look at European competitiveness as something absolutely necessary, an absolute priority of all policies across the entire European sphere. It's all well and good to talk about strategic autonomy, but there will be no strategic autonomy without a competitive economy. If we are not competitive in Europe manufacturing batteries, there will be no strategic autonomy, because batteries will be manufactured in China and we will bring them from China. It's also fine to talk about sustainability, but if we suffocate European industry with high costs to pay for CO2 emissions that should disappear, these costs. If we don't want to lose thousands of jobs in the steel sector, in the aluminum sector, in the paper sector, in the chemical sector, we must put competitiveness policies first.

Because in the end, what is happening? That since European industry cannot absorb these costs, it ends up closing. We export industries, we export jobs, we take away people's hope, we make people lose hope in the future. And then, what happens with those CO2 emissions we want to combat? Those plants that go to India, that go to China, that go to Turkey, emit on average 50% more emissions than the plants we have in Europe. So, we are also contributing to increasing CO2 emissions in the world. Therefore, there will be no sustainability without competitiveness. We need competitiveness; without it, sustainability will be a chimera. And there is a recipe for this. Have you all heard of the Draghi report? I usually say that when you go to American hotels, when you open the nightstand drawer, there's usually a Bible, and I say this with great respect because I am Catholic, but the Draghi report is a bit like the Bible we all have, 100% of us have it on our office desk, 5 or 10% of us have read it, and none of us apply the precepts more or less like the one we have in the nightstand drawer of American hotels.

But clearly, the sad thing is that there is a diagnosis, there is a shared strategy. We all agree on that strategy. It was approved a year and a half ago and there is no execution. European industry, and Susana said it, Alberto said it, Marta said it, Ángela said it, European industry suffers from hyperregulation. We need fewer directives, we need fewer laws, we need fewer orders, we need fewer regulations. We need to cut regulation. Industry can't take it anymore, we are suffocating it. And if we want to compete with the Americans, if we want to compete with the Chinese, we need to end this hyperregulation. The recipe is simple, it's written, we all have it on our desk, and it's not being applied. More competitive companies mean they can create jobs, quality jobs, better-paid jobs, and those parents of children born today can have hope that their future can also be different, just as our parents thought our future could be better and different. Therefore, competitiveness, competitiveness, and competitiveness. One recipe: focus more on people, a necessary recipe to restore hope to young Europeans, whose problem is not only that they can't afford to buy a car, which it also is. The problem is that they can't even start a life project.

I said the first thing this sector needs is that people can afford to buy a car. Competitiveness. The second thing it needs is that they know which car to buy. Look, this has happened to me, truly, it seems like an anecdote, but it has happened to me many times in the last two years, many times. Walking down the street and someone who knows you because they've seen you somewhere, in a newspaper, on TV, and they say, 'Imaz, what car should I buy?' And I think, 'How on earth would I know what car you should buy? I'm not an expert, you are the ones who know what car to buy.' But clearly, what is serious about this? That every time someone asks me this, it denotes something very serious. It means there is uncertainty. And if there is uncertainty, it means people don't know what car to buy, and this causes the purchase decision to be delayed. And this is a very negative impact on the economy. It's a very negative impact on your industry.

We've seen that gap of 2 million, Marta, when you showed us that graph and how in 2025 it was recovering. Yes, but in 2025 the figures are still below 2017, still below 2018, still below 2019, and with a population that has grown, we are many more millions of people in Spain, and a population that theoretically the economy has also grown over these years, and this makes the vehicle fleet increasingly older, having those 8 years you referenced earlier, the 14.6 I think it was. Marta, we had 8 years of average fleet life in 2008, yesterday, and today we have truly old cars driving, not driving, sorry, circulating on our roads. We have vehicles, we have technologies, but with those measures that Susana referenced a moment ago, which fortunately have been corrected, but as she said, very little and partially, that certain types of combustion engines will be prohibited, uncertainty is generated. What we are doing is making people delay their purchase decision and the fleet becomes old, outdated.

Third and final reflection, and I'll finish. 'You Decide,' that's the motto. People should be able to buy the car they need. We need more technology, we need less ideology. Saying this in front of you is obvious because you know it better than I do. Diesel cars today are very good and clean. Gasoline cars today are very good and clean. Hybrid cars today are very good and clean. Electric cars today are very good and clean. What we need is for people to renew their car. Let the citizen choose based on their needs. A current diesel car, a Euro 6, if we compare it with a Euro 1 from around 2000, of those that circulate by the millions on our roads, emits approximately 91% fewer particles, emits approximately 84% fewer nitrogen oxides, NOx. We would practically end the pollution problem in our major cities simply by renewing the fleet, because technology has evolved. The pollution problem in Spain is not diesel cars. The pollution problem in Spain is not gasoline cars, the problem is old cars.

Today a diesel car, and Marta and Susana also said it, with renewable fuels is a different reality. Today, and I haven't come to talk about my book, we have 16 service stations in Spain with a 100% renewable diesel fuel that can take advantage of all the existing infrastructure, all the existing cars, and also not emit CO2 throughout its entire life cycle. And if we also gave certainty to car manufacturers, not telling them that, and the step is very good, as Susana commented, that well, in 2035 it ends, but it doesn't end, because you'll be able to sell with 10% of the emissions you have, 3% with renewable fuels and 7% with green steel. Clearly, we need people to invest and to invest in engine efficiency so that cars don't emit less, so they emit less. Who is going to invest in engine efficiency with these restrictions for the coming years? If they don't know what they'll be able to sell, if they don't know what they'll be able to manufacture. Therefore, we need again more technology and less ideology.

We could perfectly take a diesel car and a diesel car today, new, modern, with 100% renewable diesel fuel, emits the same CO2 molecules or less, I dare say less, than an electric car throughout its entire life cycle if we take into account the manufacturing of the battery and the manufacturing of the car. But no, and then whoever wants can buy the diesel and whoever wants can buy the electric, but we are penalizing it, right? We are ending combustion with ideological arguments. They are ideological arguments, they have no technical basis. Therefore, you decide. What we need is a fleet renewal plan in which the citizen decides and not the political leaders. Therefore, competitiveness, certainty, freedom of choice are the three recipes that a dynamic automotive sector needs, a European automotive industry that advances, a fleet that renews, which is also safety on our roads, cleaner and more sustainable air. And also, why not? Because we also need to make people happy, freer consumers and more satisfied consumers.

Therefore, I like to repeat, have you noticed by now the phrase 'more technology and less ideology'? I've practically made it a slogan. Therefore, I'm glad to see that this phrase that I like so much also fits with the one that leads this convention, this meeting, and that you like so much and I also do, which is 'You Decide.' Thank you very much to Faconauto for inviting me to this presentation. Thank you.