The Future: Fast Forward group presents its project to electrify mobility in Spain with an investment of 10,000 million euros

The event included initial speeches by María Jesús Montero, Minister of Finance and Public Function, and Wayne Griffiths, President of SEAT S.A., while Marc Riera, President of the Future: Fast Forward group, was in charge of the closing after the four panels in which they have reflected and discussed the different projects that will shape the new electric and sustainable mobility. The act was also attended by different representatives of the public administrations of several autonomous communities, as well as the media and the members of the group, who have attended this benchmark event in the industry sector in Spain.

The Minister of Finance and Public Function pointed out: "We have the technological knowledge, the industrial capacity, the business leadership and the support of the public administrations for a shared objective, which is to contribute among all of us to an increasingly sustainable economy, cleaner and less polluting, where electric mobility is going to play a decisive role”. Likewise, she has highlighted that "this project is a dream come true that demonstrates the strength, resilience and capacity for reinvention of the Spanish automotive sector".

For his part, the president of SEAT S.A. He has assured during his speech that “2023 is an important year for the electrification of Spain. We are at a key moment and as an industry we have the responsibility of being a lever for transforming the country. And this is what the Future: Fast Forward project that we are presenting today is about.”

The group is going to develop 86 projects in 9 autonomous communities hand in hand with 52 of its partners, for which an investment of 10,000 million euros has been mobilized. Of this total, 7,000 million euros come from the Volkswagen Group, SEAT S.A. and PowerHoldco and 3,000 from the rest of the partners. Of this sum, 357 million have been provided by the Government of Spain through the Next Generation Resilience and Transformation Funds.

“From Future: Fast Forward we are going to act in the entire automotive value chain. We are going to generate an innovative change in the industry today with a positive social, economic and environmental impact in the future”, said the president of the Future: Fast Forward group, Marc Riera, at the closing of the institutional act.

Riera has also commented on the purpose of "laying the foundations of a distinctive business collaboration model, capable of adding value, of contributing knowledge, talent and experience, to go further".

Partners discuss the impact of the project

Through four panels, the business leaders of the large companies and SMEs that are part of the group have detailed the impact and scope of this historic opportunity.

The panel titled “A project for the country” included the participation of Francisco J. Riberas, executive president of Gestamp; Alfonso Sancha, Executive Vice President of Purchasing at SEAT S.A.; Marc Riera, president of Future: Fast Forward and Alfonso Sesé, president of Sesé. The speakers have explained the potential of Future: Fast Forward as a transforming project not only of the automotive sector, but also of the Spanish economy, as well as the reasons why they have embarked on this industry revolution to position Spain as the international hub for electric vehicles.

This was followed by the panel "The path towards sustainable electrification in Spain", in which Javier Rivera, CFO of PowerCo Spain; Juan José Marcos, CEO of Ingedetec; Raquel Blanco, Global Director of Smart Mobility at Iberdrola, and Joaquín Abril-Martorell, CEO of Phi4Tech Group, have reflected on the purpose of achieving sustainable mobility, highlighting the importance of having the first battery factory, as well as the raw material with the one we have in the country to be able to promote Spain as a benchmark for electric vehicles. The third panel has been dedicated to SMEs with Jon Asín, manager and co-founder of BeePlanet Factory; Enrique Vacas, CEO & Business Development director of Nutai; Carlos Pablo Rodríguez and Juan, vice president of Isend and Mike Hastewell, president of Malena Engineering. Everyone has spoken about what it means for them to be part of a project of this magnitude and the importance they have in it, since SMEs represent 59.6% of companies developing projects. Finally, the panel "New opportunities in employment and training" included José García Gámez, general director of Órbita Ingeniería; Josep Codina Nogues, CEO of FORMINSA and Mikel Ormazabal, production manager of Volkswagen Navarra. All have agreed on the new paradigm that Future: Fast Forward represents for the quality and specialization of employment in Spain.

Future's Legacy: Fast Forward

The Future: Fast Forward project will not only change mobility as we know it today, but it will positively impact many factors such as GDP, maintaining and creating employment with new qualified profiles, promoting SMEs and also impacting on sustainability with reducing the carbon footprint. Likewise, it wants to lay the foundations for new models of business collaboration, multiple, transversal and that add value to a common objective to go further, leaving a more competitive country in the face of future challenges. The group's president, Marc Riera, finally pointed out that “Future: Fast Forward is the result of more than 50 companies capable of making the future of the automotive industry a reality. But we must be more ambitious and work to strengthen this project and those who can follow it; It is the only way to achieve a transformation that is already unstoppable”.

The capillarity of a country project After the completion of the panels, there has been an interactive area in which spokespersons of the 52 partners that have 86 projects have been able to explain to the attendees what these actions that will transform the sector consist of. of the automobile in Spain. This space has been divided into different workshops related to the nine areas of action of PERTE VEC: the mandatory blocks, (i) manufacturing of original equipment and assembly, (ii) manufacturing of batteries and (iii) manufacturing of other components. The transversal blocks, which include (iv) training; (v) digitization and (vi) circular economy. Finally, the optional blocks complement the development of the PERTE VEC and address (vii and viii) the manufacture of VEC components and connectivity and (ix) the manufacture of charging systems.

The capillarity of a country project

After the completion of the panels, there was an interactive area in which spokespersons for the 52 partners who have 86 projects have been able to explain to the attendees what these actions that will transform the automotive sector in Spain consist of. This space has been divided into different workshops related to the nine areas of action of PERTE VEC: the mandatory blocks, (i) manufacturing of original equipment and assembly, (ii) manufacturing of batteries and (iii) manufacturing of other components. The transversal blocks, which include (iv) training; (v) digitization and (vi) circular economy. Finally, the optional blocks complement the development of the PERTE VEC and address (vii and viii) the manufacture of VEC components and connectivity and (ix) the manufacture of charging systems.