"Spain has reinforced its 'Plan Vive,' which offers some aid to consumers, and Citroen is taking advantage of that, but we think they need to go further, by offering direct aid to consumers," Gales was quoted as saying by the aforementioned source.
"We are in favor of scrapping incentives, which have been used with much success in Germany, France, and Italy, and which have been approved in the United Kingdom."
Gales explained that Spain should follow the example of the other European countries that agreed to offer scrapping incentives, including Germany, France and Italy, who all managed to boost new car sales in the region.
"It is clear that what works is a simple, visible program, something like a 1,500 euro rebate for scrapping an eight- or 10-year-old car, and buying a new one that has low CO2 emissions," he said. "People understand this system, and if it's time-limited, as is the case in Germany, consumers react quickly, to ensure that they are included."
Last month, new car sales fell 45.6 percent to 67,215 units, according to figures provided by Autonews, while in the first four months deliveries were down 43.7 percent to 265,210 units.
"We are attracting people into dealerships to buy new cars who would have previously bought used, we're creating future service business for dealers, and governments are collecting value-added tax. Everyone wins," he said.
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