Steady car market in Italy, registrations in May -0.16%

Car registrations in May remained at 2024 levels - the month closed at -0.16% compared to a year ago - with volumes at the same level as last year. From January to May, 722,452 cars were registered in Italy, a drop of 0.54% on the same period in 2024. "Overall, therefore, the Union's car market is in stagnation," explains Centro Studi Promotor in its monthly note. As for the dealers surveyed by Centro Studi Promotor, "stagnation will remain, at least in the short term, given that the acquisition of orders in the past month was low for 97% of those surveyed, while the level of new car inventories at dealerships was high for 45% of those surveyed and the number of visitors to showrooms was low for 95% of the sample".

In this market context, Fiat lost 7% of its volumes in the month, almost 10% since the beginning of the year, and fell just below 10% market share, while Peugeot, on the other hand, gained ground, grew in double figures both in May and in the period, and closed the five months with almost 6% market share. Lancia failed to gain share, Jeep did not shine and fell, while Alfa Romeo confirmed its good market momentum and closed the five-month period with volumes up by over 30% since January, and a market share of almost two points.

The market also remained negative in Italy for Volkswagen (-3.2% since the start of the year) and Renault (-2% since January), while Toyota's registrations grew, both in the month and since the start of the year, a brand that joins Fiat in terms of volumes and market share in Italy. Among the new comers, Tesla saw its sales fall further in May (-20.3%) and in the period, while the Chinese Mg and Byd continued their gallop. The former filed a market share close to 4% with volumes up more than 40% since January, while Byd went from 50 to almost 2 thousand registrations in a year, with a market share of one point achieved from January to May.

The European picture is substantially in line with the Italian one, some 20% away from the pre-Covid volumes recovered instead by most global markets. "In this picture," emphasises Gian Primo Quagliano, chairman of Centro Studi Promotor, "it seems that the first problem to be solved is how to save the European car from the European Union and its policies inspired not by rational environmentalism, but by ideological environmentalism.