ROME – Even the cars that circulate in Italy, like the population, are getting older. The statistical analysis of the motor vehicle market in Italy published by Unrae in the 2021 Book, calculates over 38.8 million cars circulating at the end of 2021, with an average age that from 7.9 years in 2009 has grown from year to year until to the current 11.8 years, and 26.2% of cars circulating before Euro 4.
“A progressive aging – comments Andrea Cardinali, director general of Unrae – due to the economic crises (years 2008, 2012-2013 and 2020) and the consequent weakness of the market, with negative effects on the health of citizens and on the environment. renewal rate would take 26 years to replace it all, therefore, targeted interventions are needed to accelerate the decarbonisation process and support the ecological transition “. Out of 4,125,000
commercial vehicles in circulation, over 43% were before Euro 4 and over 53% of the 709,000 industrial vehicles with a capacity over 3.5t. The bus fleet is also very old, with an average age of 12 years.
Although petrol and diesel cars have halved registrations in the last three years (petrol cars from 852,000 in 2019 to 437,000 in 2021, and diesel cars from 763,000 to 323,000), with over 34.5 million units together 90% of the fleet circulating on Italian roads. In addition, 26.2% of the total is before Euro 4, meaning that one in four cars is over 15 years of age.
The number of electric cars “on tap” (Ecv) is growing, rising from 17,185 in 2019 to 136,311 in 2021, but which, while reaching 9.4% of the total, are lagging behind the 20% average of the other 4 major European markets and very far from 26% in Germany, 18.6% in the United Kingdom and 18.3% in France.