ROMA – The Italian car market remains in negative territory. In July, according to Mims, 110,292 cars were registered with a drop on the pre-crisis level of 2019 of 28.1%, while the January-July final balance highlights a contraction on the pre-crisis level of 2019 of 19.5. %. A figure, that of July, which appears particularly negative both for the end of the effect of the incentives (they were bookable until April 8) and for the waiting for the new incentives that have just entered into force. Thus, the lowest level of the year is recorded, falling for the first time not only compared to the same month of 2019 but also to July 2020, the year of the pandemic. The decrease compared to the 136,768 registrations of July 2020, which still did not even benefit from the incentives of the Relaunch Law, is 19.4%, while on the 153,331 units in July 2019 the decrease is 28.1%. In the first seven months of the year, the loss compared to 2019 rises to about 250,000 units (-19.5% with 1,236,481 registrations), leading to the forecast of an end of the whole year with over 300,000 cars lost, which are added to the 500,000 cars fewer registered in 2020 and bring the overall loss compared to the pre-Covid period to a chasm of over 800,000 units.
All the big brands are doing badly without major distinctions. Stellantis registered 39,779 cars in Italy in July, 20.3% less than in the same month of 2020. Since the beginning of the year, the group’s registrations are 390,897, up 39.4% on the same period last year. But the arrival of new stimuli could avoid the collapse in demand for cars which had begun to manifest itself in July and which, in the absence of interventions, could have been dramatic in the last part of the year. With the incentives in force, according to the estimates of the Centro Studi Promotor, the Italian car market could close by 2021 substantially in line with the result of the first half and therefore at 1,566,000 registrations for the whole year with a decrease in the 2019 of 18.3%. These numbers are clearly in contrast with the trend of the gross domestic product which, according to Istat forecasts, in the whole of 2021 will experience a contraction on the 2019 figure of 4.6%. The incentives proposed by Parliament and approved by the government have limited the negative effect on car sales, but there is therefore a large gap between the recovery of the economy in general, which is proceeding in an accelerated manner, and that of the auto sector which remains still in very serious difficulty despite the incentives.
With reference to the market by segment, in July, utility and super-utility cars accounted for 36% of the market, down 13.6%, while in the first seven months of this year their share was 39.4% (+ 46.2%). The best-selling model is still the Fiat Panda, with the Fiat 500 and Lancia Ypsilon occupying second and third positions. Mid-range cars have a market share of 10% in July (-42%) and 10.8% in the first seven months of 2021 (+ 14.1%), with the Fiat Tipo in first place since the beginning of the year. SUVs have a market share of 48.5% in July, down 14.8%, and represent 45.7% of the cumulative market, which grows by 44.3%. In detail, small SUVs represent 23.1% of the month market (Fiat 500X the best-selling model, with Jeep Renegade in third place and Peugeot 2008 in sixth) and are down by 12.5% compared to July 2020, while they grow by 51% in the cumulative. Compact SUVs accounted for 19.2% (Jeep Compass in first place and Peugeot 3008 in third place), down 15.2% in the month and up 42.1% in the first seven months of 2021. Medium SUVs , with a share of 5%, decreased by 18.7% in the month and increased by 29% in the cumulative, while sales of large SUVs were 1.3% of the total (-29% in the month and +26, 8% in the first seven months of 2021). 31.3% of SUV sales concern cars of the Stellantis Group. MPVs represent 2% of both the July market and the sales of the first seven months and are down both in the month (-55.6%) and in the cumulative (-25.8%). Finally, sports, superior and luxury cars have a share of 1.2% in the month and 1% in the cumulative.
The second-hand market in July also closed down by 17.4% on 2019 with 313,150 changes of ownership gross of mini-revolutions. The first 7 months record a decrease of 18.4% compared to 2019 with 2,084,985 total passages.
“The renewal of the incentives – says UNRAE President Michele Crisci – was an expected measure, but the amount of resources is clearly inadequate to support, at least until the end of the year, the replacement of as many polluting cars as possible with Euro cars. 6. This is what we have repeatedly asked as UNRAE and which has been accepted by many parliamentarians from all sides. The approved provision, as formulated, instead suggests a rapid depletion of funds and, therefore, the real risk that already in September there will be a new market stop ”.
“The negative result in July, in addition to being representative of a month in which the refinancing of the incentives in the 61-135 g / km of CO2 range was still expected, also derives from the comparison with a July 2020 which, despite having closed at -11 %, showed the first signs of recovery compared to the very heavy downturns of the previous months – affirms Paolo Scudieri, President of ANFIA – to this is added the fact that we are in the summer season, characterized by traditionally low volumes. For the next few months, we are counting on the boost from the recently refinanced incentives “.
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