Not only diesel, hybrid and petrol cars are making their way into fleets
Diesel is the main option, with a 52% share, but steadily decreasing: in 2022 it was 59%, in 2021 69%.
3' min read
3' min read
Fleets do not live by diesel alone: it can indeed be said that diesel is no longer the only possible choice for fleet managers, but is being tailed more and more closely by petrol and hybrids, which are gaining important market shares. Confirming this are the figures released by Aniasa (the association that represents the mobility services sector within Confindustria) in its annual report on the state of the rental sector, which for some years now has also been drawing a picture of shared mobility and connected cars.
According to this data, the distribution of rental vehicles by power supply shows that diesel is the predominant option in fleets, with a 52% share, but steadily decreasing: in 2022 it was 59%, in 2021 69%. Hybrid vehicles represent the second choice with 22% and have the highest share increase, a full 6 percentage points between 2022 and 2023. Petrol vehicles maintain the same share in 2023 as in 2022 (13%), growing by 7 percentage points over the previous year. Plug-in vehicles (plug-in hybrids and electric cars) increase their share by 2 percentage points to over 10%.
As far as orders are concerned, the figures for 2023, from the point of view of fuels, show that diesel and mild hybrid diesel cars continue to be the companies' favourite: 4 out of 10 cars belong to these fuels. Petrol and petrol mild hybrid cars increase their share from 33% to 37%. Full hybrids see their share increase by 1.4 percentage points from 5.8% to 7.2%.
In contrast, plug-in hybrids lose 2.5 percentage points of share from 11.1% to 8.6%. Electrics make a small leap from 4.4% to 4.7% in 2023. From the data in the Aniasa report," emphasises Alberto Viano, president of the association, "the strategic role of the rental sector for the spread of electric and electrified cars clearly emerges. Today, rental is the real engine of the ecological transition and has taken on the role of 'democratiser' of the spread of new fuels".
The trends outlined above are further confirmed when looking at the first figures for 2024, when petrol/mild hybrid (+13.4%) and full hybrid (+69.4%) are growing. It is precisely these two fuels that drive the entire rental sector, making a decisive contribution to the positive figure (+2.8%) in total new registrations recorded in the first four months of the year compared to the same period last year. As already confirmed in previous years, electrified cars still struggle in the private channel, where they barely exceed 4%. The lower share in the private channel demonstrates the key role of fleets and rentals in the spread of more sustainable fuels. "The inclusion of 100% rental and companies in the new incentives," Viano concludes, "can make the ecological transition of the Italian fleet even faster. Even better could be done with greater collaboration between industry, stakeholders and institutions. It is worth remembering that a review of company car taxation, which in our country is particularly penalising compared to what is in force in our direct competitor European countries, would help to give a further boost to registrations of these cars and increase the competitiveness of Italian companies'.
