Spain extends PERTE subsidy for another year

In contrast to the previous year’s programmes, the main funding will be provided in the form of loans, which account for 1 billion euros of the total amount, while the remaining 250 million euros will be granted as direct subsidies.

Another new feature is that the State Corporation for Industrial Promotion and Enterprise Development (Sepides) will be responsible for managing this new PERTE funding round. As in previous rounds, the subsidies will be divided between projects covering the electric vehicle value chain and those specifically focussed on battery production. A call for proposals for battery projects will be published first “in a few weeks,” to be followed later by a second call for the value chain.

Since being introduced in 2022, PERTE has delivered three rounds of funding, which provided nearly 2,500 million euros to about 300 companies, which represent the entire automotive value chain, as the Spanish Ministry of Industry and Tourism wrote.

Minister of Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu, invited companies to begin applying for the funds: “We want to use up all the funds and continue to drive the country’s industrial transformation,” said the minister, adding that local companies “should not only be to adapt to changes, but to anticipate them. We want Spain to be talked about, not only as a major vehicle producer, but also as the place where the most advanced mobility solutions in the world are born.”

In the past years, Seat has greatly benefited from the PERTE funding, taking nearly half the funds in the initial launch year, and took full advantage of the programme in 2023 to support the construction of a battery factory. This was also approved by the European Commission. In 2024, another Volkswagen subsidiary took a solid chunk of the funds with PowerCo and Stellantis to build more battery factories in Spain. In the announcement for this year’s funds, the initiators also point to the growth in e-mobility as a factor of success by the programme: “In April, passenger car sales grew by 7.1%, with nearly 100,000 units sold. In the first four months of the year, 12.2% more registrations were achieved than in the same period of 2024, with a very significant increase in electrified vehicles, which grew by 80% compared to the previous year.”

mintur.gob.es (in Spanish)