€4.7 billion. That is the bill left behind for the national economy by Storm Kristin - a 1.5% hit to GDP, equivalent to picturing Volkswagen Autoeuropa at a complete standstill for an entire year.
Yet what is truly at stake is not just a figure on a spreadsheet: it is the resilience and reputation of one of the country’s export “engines” - the automotive components manufacturing industry and the plastic injection moulds sector, whose main industrial hub sits in the Centre of Portugal, the region most heavily battered by this storm.
In this episode of Auto Rádio - a Razão Automóvel podcast supported by piscapisca.pt - we will examine the scale of the damage and explore how a sector that supplies parts to 98% of cars built in Europe can recover from a blow of this magnitude.
European cars have Portuguese DNA
Portugal is not only a strong player in vehicle production (Volkswagen Autoeuropa and Stellantis in Mangualde are clear examples), it is also at the forefront when it comes to manufacturing components that supply multiple car production sites across Europe.
According to figures from AFIA (Associação de Fabricantes para a Indústria Automóvel), 98% of new cars sold in Europe include at least one “Made in Portugal” component. That alone underlines the weight of this sector, which accounts for around 5.2% of Portuguese GDP and generates roughly €14.7 billion each year.
Looking at the make-up of Portugal’s exports, 14.9% of all transactions are attributed to the national automotive components industry. It supports 63,000 direct jobs across approximately 360 companies - many of them in the centre of the country, along the Aveiro–Leiria corridor.
That is precisely why the destruction of industrial sites in these areas did not create only local logistical hurdles: it also disrupted production lines beyond Portugal’s borders, where a delay in the supply of a single component can bring entire car assembly lines to a halt.
Portugal on Europe’s podium
Automotive components manufacturing is closely intertwined with the plastic injection moulds sector, where Portugal holds a globally prominent position: it is the third-largest producer in Europe and the eighth-largest in the world.
According to CEFAMOL - Associação Nacional da Indústria de Moldes - the sector generated €788 million in turnover in 2024, with 80% of output destined for export.
Even so, Storm Kristin has compounded other structural pressures that were already weighing on industry. Companies were already contending with higher production and logistics costs due to the geopolitical instability we are living through, as well as the demands of the energy transition, which requires investment to develop new components.
Auto Rádio returns next week
There is, therefore, no shortage of reasons to watch/listen to the latest episode of Auto Rádio, which returns next week on the usual platforms: YouTube, Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
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