February 2022 closes with 110,869 registrations of new cars, 22.6% less than in February 2021. The decline in car registrations in Italy continues: since the beginning of the year, the loss in volumes has been 21.1 % on 2021, 36.4% on 2019, the year before the pandemic. Stellantis, which lent its ten-year strategic plan today, lost 29.2% in the last month, with the share falling from 41.3% to 37.8%.
To weigh on sales the shortage of semiconductors, with the limited availability of copies in the dealership, and the expected effect with respect to the new incentive plan, in addition to the uncertainties related to the progress of the pandemic and, now, fears for the war between Russia and Ukraine.
The premises for the market trend in 2022 are therefore worrying: “projecting the result of the first two months over the whole year, we obtain a volume of registrations equal to just over a million cars, a level from the 1960s. last “, underlines the president of the Centro Studi Promotor, Gian Primo Quagliano, according to which” the only positive contribution that can be had at this moment is the immediate adoption of the provision for incentives to the sector “. Although “the allocation of one billion per year announced for 2022 – he argues – risks being insufficient if this figure, as it seems, must cover, not only support for the demand for cars, but also interventions to compensate for the negative impact of the ecological transition on component production and employment “.
All the major brands suffer. If Fiat loses almost a third of volumes, Volkswagen’s decline is 33.8%, Peugeot’s 35.12% and Opel’s -33.5%. The Asian Honda and Hyundai are exceptions, alongside the excellent performance of the Mini which earns more than 16% of volumes and the Lancia brand which remains stable on the previous year.
“The wait for the launch of new incentives has helped to depress demand even more – comments Michele Crisci -. We hope that once the international crisis is resolved as soon as possible, the government will find the necessary space for the enactment of the implementing decree that allows faster use of the fund for the refinancing of incentives “.
Also Federauto, the Italian Federation of Car Dealers, asks for a “rapid definition of the operational provision that will establish methods, criteria and allocation of resources for the purchase of non-polluting vehicles, recalling that” the sharp increase in the price of fuel , both fossil and electric, which risks further depressing the sector “.
