Production (+0.7 per cent) is growing slowly, remaining unchanged year-on-year despite the boost from the car sector

At the other end of the spectrum, it is the car sector that is driving the recovery, propelling the transport sector upwards (+8.7 per cent in seven months), with car production rebounding from last year’s lows, when total car output, at 238,000 units, fell to levels not seen in Italia since the mid-1950s. In July, too, car production grew at an above-average rate, rising by 10 per cent compared with the same month in 2025.

Looking elsewhere in Europe, at the continent’s largest economy, the picture remains generally complex, given that industrial output in France has fallen on a month-on-month basis, as it did in Germany, where in July it fell by more than one percentage point compared with the previous month and by 1.6 per cent year-on-year, with the index now standing just below the 90 mark, ten points lower than in 2021.

Berlin’s growth is being held back in particular by the car sector, which is down 9.2 per cent on the previous month; this decline is also evident in production volumes, with a 6 per cent fall in the number of cars produced. This situation remained unchanged in the August figures, which showed a 4 per cent decline – identical to the fall recorded in the first eight months of the year.

At this stage, production in 2026 is 15 points below the figure recorded during the same period in 2019. And given the forecasts of production cuts at Volkswagen-Audi, the outlook in terms of volumes certainly does not look set to improve.

In detail

In July, the seasonally adjusted industrial production index rose by 0.7 per cent compared with June. Excluding calendar effects, production in July remained unchanged compared with the previous year. This is the estimate from Istat, which notes that there were 23 working days in July 2025. On average for the May–July period, there was a 0.1 per cent fall in production levels compared with the previous three months.

The seasonally adjusted index shows a month-on-month decline in July only for energy (-0.9 per cent); conversely, increases were recorded for consumer goods (+2.1 per cent), intermediate goods (+0.5 per cent) and capital goods (+0.2 per cent).

On an annual basis, the only increase was recorded in the energy sector (+6.4 per cent); by contrast, declines were observed in capital goods (-0.1 per cent), intermediate goods (-0.8 per cent) and consumer goods (-1.2 per cent).

The sectors of economic activity recording the highest year-on-year increases are the supply of electricity, gas, steam and air (+7.6 per cent), the manufacture of basic pharmaceutical products and pharmaceutical preparations (+7.4 per cent) and the manufacture of computers, electronic and optical products, electro-medical equipment and measuring instruments (+2.4 per cent).

The sharpest falls were recorded in other manufacturing industries, and in the repair and installation of machinery and equipment (-4.6 per cent), in the manufacture of chemical products (-3.4 per cent) and in the manufacture of electrical equipment and non-electrical domestic appliances (-2.8 per cent).