Cars and household appliances, bonuses do not drive industry
After the rush for electric vehicles, funds for washing machines, fridges and ovens are now also exhausted
Can industrial policy also be made with bonus policy? Most economic analysts would say a dry No. All the more so, perhaps, in the light of recent cases, if we think of what has happened with cars and what is happening with household appliances. Let us start with the latter example. The measure was included in the budget law at the end of 2024. Almost a year to finalise the implementing decrees and - in the last few months - the waiting effect that almost brought the market to a standstill. Then, on 18 November, the click day and forty-eight million euro pulverised in less than 10 hours, with 550,000 families having booked without yet being certain that they will access the contribution.
Failure to shake
Is this a shock for the industry? It is doubtful, given that the 30 product brands participating in the campaign with few exceptions have a production base abroad, albeit in the European Union. From an analysis of the crisis tables of recent years, with household appliance manufacturers in retreat from Italy (see the Beko case), it is clear that the manufacturing fabric in this sector is in aslow and perhaps irreversible decline, without any real industrial policy measures (targeted research incentives or reductions in energy costs, for example) having been put in place.
And the car? Between 22 and 23 October, it took less than 24 hours to exhaust a ceiling of 595 million euro dedicated to incentivising electric cars. Let us go back in time. In just a handful of days, the campaigns for subsidies for the purchase of industrial vehicles at the beginning of this year (25 million available) and those, again aimed at electric cars, with 200 million, launched in mid-2024. Result on the domestic industry? Imperceptible. Asian manufacturers remain the main beneficiaries of operations of this type while waiting for competition from models made in Italy or made in Europe to strengthen. And today, the Stellantis supply chain is suffering, with more than one company destined to enter the list of crisis tables managed by the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy.
