Figures published by Basque automotive component cluster ACICAE showed sales by the Basque automotive industry were up 15% in 2007 to 11,020 million euros, bringing the industry's contribution to nearly 17% of the Basque GDP (Gross Domestic Product), and that despite the exclusion of the Mercedes factory in Vitoria.
The regional industry's 300 companies have 500 factories altogether, 110 of them abroad, and provide work for 76,000 people worldwide, 40,970 of them in the Basque Country alone.
Just over 72% of sales made by companies in the industry are exports, 53.3% going to the EU and 18.8% to the rest of the world.
Apart from the standard limited companies with local capital, the industry also boasts foreign multinationals, cooperatives and family SME. According to sources at ACICAE, there are 28 Basque industrial groups, some of which are themselves multinationals with factories in a range of countries, more than 30 foreign multinationals plus a healthy number of family businesses and cooperatives.
Such firms are involved in all vehicle functions, from transmission (44%), the engine (28%), interior furnishings and features (26%) and chassis and bodywork (19%) to external fittings (7%), electrical and electronic parts and systems (7%) and tyres and wheel rims and hubs (3%).
ACICAE also stresses the sheer diversity of technologies and processes the Basque automotive industry offers, with machining predominating (65%), injection (28%) and cold stamping (21%). Mechanical joints (32&) and welding (24%) are the most common types of joints to be found in the industry. Surface finishing accounts for 46% and heat treatments 33%. Non-ferrous materials are the most used at 76%, with plastics (30%) and aluminium (20%) on the increase.
Finally, the Basque Country has two manufacturing and vehicle assembly plants, one with a capacity of 95,000 vehicles a year belonging to Mercedes-Benz in Vitoria, and the other Irizar, with factories in the Basque Country, Brazil, China, India, Mexico and Morocco, with total production currently standing at 13 coaches a day.
