The Italian four-wheeler market continues to stagnate: in March the decline was 12.7% compared to the same month of 2019 (the comparison with March 2020 does not make much sense, given that it was the first month of lockdown and just 28,415 registrations). In the month just ended, registrations totaled 169,684 units, 24,600 fewer than in March 2019. While the first quarter of the current year is archived with 446,978 cars registered, down 16.9% compared to January-March 2019.
“The continuous decline in registrations, which must obviously be measured in 2019 since March 2020 cannot be a yardstick, is increasingly worrying the market and businesses”, says Michele Crisci, President of Unrae, the Association of Foreign Car Manufacturers: «In view of these data, the refinancing of the incentives to allow the scrapping in the 61-135 g / km CO2 range up to the end of June is in our opinion a necessity that cannot be ignored by the Government. Up to now, the incentives have made it possible to speed up the pace of replacement of cars with over 10 years of life, saving the environment tens of thousands of tons of CO2, and at the same time speeding up the transition to the new very low-impact engines that the first time in Italy in February, in the case of hybrids, they surpassed diesel sales ».
However, the spread of 100% electric and rechargeable hybrid cars, today at a share of just under 9%, has been slowed by the lack of recharging infrastructures. “Italy – highlights Michele Crisci – with 2.7 recharging points per 100 km is still in sixteenth place in Europe and is far from Germany, which despite being among the top six in the ranking with 6.9 recharging points per 100 km , in recent days announced a 5.5 billion euro plan to finance the construction of charging stations. The PNRR is an opportunity to accelerate, also in Italy, the green turning point in mobility, on which for years the car manufacturers have been investing large resources in research and development ».
The market analysis confirms the strong growth of hybrid cars (they combine a thermal engine with an electric one) which, thanks to state incentives, are the second preferred engine for Italians and, with 27% market share, surpass the diesel which, on the other hand, is gradually decreasing, to 24.4% of representativeness. In the cumulative January-March, the hybrids, however, have a share of 26.8% and diesel of 25.4%. The petrol engine remained stable in first place at 31% in March and at 33.1% in January-March. Methane rises to 2.6% share (2.3% in the first quarter cumulative), LPG is positioned at 6.1% (5.8% in January-March). The incentives for ultra-low-impact cars support registrations of plug-in cars (rechargeable hybrids), which have risen to 4.5% of market share, and those of battery-powered electric cars, to 4.3% (respectively to 3, 6% and 3% representativeness in the cumulative January – March).
