Josu Jon Imaz: "En el futuro el coche será de combustión"

We are talking about, if the average life of a car in Spain today is 14.8 years, that means for the next 15 years, what technologies will there be? We are practically seeing it, right? I think it will basically be... For example, the hydrogen car. There will always be those who want to be technological pioneers, and that's everyone's freedom to be one, but let's say the bulk of sales in the next 10 to 15 years, without a doubt, I think will be the combustion engine in its gasoline variant, and with its gasoline hybridization variant, which makes sense. Hybridization is ultimately a form of efficiency; it's using the movement generated and that energy generated in the car to have an accumulation that generates electricity, complementing the impulse of the combustion engine. With hybridization, a hybrid gasoline car is an absolutely reasonable offering. Logically, technologies tend to be a bit more expensive, consumption tends to be a bit lower. Each one, of course, it's like I myself all my life: you say, 'Well, what do I buy?' I buy because I have always driven many kilometers. I like to drive and even today I can do 50,000 kilometers a year driving myself, which is not bad, and there were moments 6 or 7 years ago when I reached 70,000 or 75,000 kilometers a year driving myself. But my whole life, since I was 21, I have always been on averages above 35,000 or 40,000 kilometers a year. So, well, I like to drive and even today it relaxes me, eh? And even many people tell me, 'Man, but how do you go from Madrid by car?' And it's that I arrive relaxed. Everyone is like that. I mean, I don't intend to generalize and say that this has to be a universal custom. I like it. But of course, I have always, all my life, started with a gasoline car because I took it from my sister. My sister, 7 years older than me, when she got rid of the Peugeot 205, she passed it on to me. But when I had my money to buy my first car, my own car, first-hand, it was a Volkswagen Golf GTD in 1992. For me that was, I also thought I would never in my life be able to buy a car like this. That was my last chance because it was 2,400,000 pesetas at that time. I had already been working for years, I had been able to save to buy that car, but of course, I had no doubt if I at that time was doing 45,000 or 50,000 kilometers a year. So everyone has to do their own calculation: how much is the initial investment, how much does the fuel cost me, how much this and that, and make the decision and accept that decision with respect. And therefore we are going to have combustion, gasoline, diesel with their hybridized forms. I think I would have liked technology to advance more because diesel hybridization would have been terribly efficient. What happens? Well, anyone says now, 'I don't know, Volkswagen, Renault, get to work investing in diesel hybridization.' They will tell you, 'What for, if in 2035, 2040 I won't be able to keep manufacturing or not?' And of course, for those who care less about autonomy issues, because they feel comfortable with an electric vehicle, it has its advantages. In some cases for urban mobility it has undoubted advantages. That's another purchase option. But of course, a moment ago when I was making this reflection about anyone telling a manufacturer to invest in diesel hybridization, I was thinking about something else. For years and years, car manufacturers no longer invest in engine efficiency. When we were a bit younger than now, Juan Mari, a car could have emissions — sorry — a consumption of 10, 11. I've even driven some with 13, 14 liters per 100 km. Manufacturers invested heavily for years in reducing that consumption and thereby reducing CO2 emissions from that car. And we've been stagnant for a decade; it's the same, depending on the type of car, 6, 7, 8 liters per 100 km, it doesn't go down, nor will it go down anymore. And why doesn't it go down? Because car manufacturers, as they are told, 'This won't continue,' they no longer have any incentive to invest in the combustion engine for efficiency. Consequently, how much extra money? And someone will say, because someone might think all these things: 'Of course, you are Repsol. What are you going to say?' No, no, what I am saying will benefit Repsol. If for Repsol people consuming 10, 11 liters is theoretically good, but you have to be responsible in this life; you have to have a point of responsibility for the consumer and social responsibility. How much have consumers paid extra because investment hasn't been made in engine efficiency? How much extra CO2 has been emitted because of these regulatory signals we have? Man, no, this needs to be considered. And then there is, for electric car lovers, which is another option, the plug-in hybrid, which is... I don't know, because logically I don't have a crystal ball. I think it's a good technology because, for example, in Madrid many people, right? They say, 'Hey, I have a plug-in hybrid.' And they say, 'Well, I'm going to Santander, Bilbao, San Sebastián.' And well, up to Somosierra, the electric motor holds out, and of course, from Somosierra onwards, the combustion engine kicks in. It's an option that will possibly always be more expensive in the market because it uses two technologies, but as I said before, let's give the consumer, let's give the motorist the freedom to do their calculations and choose.