The south of Gran Canaria is playing it cool, but it has a serious problem: from January 2025, in a few months, cars with the A label will not be allowed to circulate, but local police officers will be able to apply fines of up to 200 euros. This will affect cars that are more than 20 years old. Specifically, cars and vans registered before 2000, diesel vehicles registered before 2006 and motorcycles before 2001. 27,60% of the vehicle fleet in the south of Gran Canaria does not have any environmental badge issued by the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT), according to Faconauto, the employers' association that brings together the associations of official dealers of car brands, industrial vehicles and agricultural machinery. This percentage corresponds mainly to older and less efficient vehicles (petrol models prior to January 2000 and diesel models prior to 2006).
On the other hand, the B label, which are petrol cars registered from January 2000 and from January 2006 for diesel cars, as well as the C label, petrol cars registered from January 2006 and diesel cars from 2014, account for 22,12% and 47,13% of the total number of cars in southern Gran Canaria, respectively. The lowest percentage of penetration is found in the most efficient technologies and in the youngest cars. Thus, vehicles with the ZERO label (electric and plug-in hybrids) represent only 0,81% of the fleet in southern Gran Canaria, while the ECO label (hybrids) reach 2,34%.
Faconauto has also analysed the evolution of the average age of the Canary Islands' vehicle fleet, which, throughout 2022, stood at 15 years old, clearly above the national average, which is 13,9 years. The weakness of the market and the consequent registration crisis, dragged on since the pandemic by stock problems and an unfavourable consumer context, is slowing down the change of vehicle by both individuals and families as well as by fleets and companies, in such a way that the quality of the vehicle fleet is worsening. For the employers' association, the entire value chain of the automotive sector, as well as Public Administrations and political agents, must collaborate and have electrification and sustainable mobility as their essential axis.