Car market stalled in October, -2.7% since the beginning of the year

October was a weak month in the Italian car market, with registrations actually stable compared to the same month in 2024 (-0.6%), at 125,826 cars. Since the beginning of the year, volumes on the domestic market are at 1.293,366 units, 2.7% less than in 2024, and the gap with respect to 2019 remains heavy, with 20.4% fewer registrations than in the pre-Covid market.

Projecting the results of the first ten months on the entire year on the basis of the seasonality of sales, points out the Promotor Research Centre led by Gianprimo Quagliano, "we obtain a registration volume of 1,502,836 units with a drop of 3.6% on 2024 and 21.6% on 2019". A contribution to support registrations, especially of electric cars, will come from the incentives booked on the platform prepared by the Ministry of the Environment and exhausted between 22 and 23 October.

There were 55,680 'bookings', a number that is compatible with the volume of electric car registrations recorded in Italy in a whole year, 'but undoubtedly a drop in the ocean as far as the transition to electric cars is concerned', a number that sees Italy still at the bottom of the list in Europe in terms of penetration of full electric engines.

Among the brands, the recovery in volumes of the Stellantis house brands stands out, with Fiat recovering more than 26%, Alfa Romeo growing by 22%, Lancia by 16%, net of the minus sign of Peugeot and Jeep. The performance of Volkswagen and Auti is more tarnished, as is that of Renault, which lost 15%. Among the emerging brands, Byd tripled its volumes compared to last year, while Tesla halved them

The latest monthly economic survey conducted by Centro Studi Promotor on car dealers shows that the electric car is essentially purchased as a second car, with the lower flexibility of use of this solution compared to traditional internal combustion cars weighing heavily. As for the outlook for the coming months, it emerges that only 6% of respondents expect an increase in car sales, while 28% expect stability and as many as 66% expect sales to fall.