Unrae puts the motorist at the centre. The manufacturers’ association’s new course gets underway

“Cars have changed, and the way we talk about them must change too.” So said Roberto Pietrantonio, president of Unrae, the association of car manufacturers, when presenting the organisation’s new mission statement, accompanied by a new logo.

“We want to be a point of reference for motorists and members of the public.” Over the past quarter of a century, the car has become a complex item that is also difficult to choose, given the variety of engines and high-tech features, and difficult to use, due to traffic regulations that vary from city to city and from one year to the next.

During the same period, external forces have cornered this means of personal transport, culminating in the unfounded demonisation of the diesel engine. The mainstream narrative has made an out-of-this-world dream – or nightmare – seem almost tangible: soon we’ll all be walking, cycling, riding scooters, travelling by drone or using some other means, but certainly not by car. Then that ‘soon’ became today and even yesterday, yet the car has remained the most widely used and indispensable means of transport: “The car is alive, more alive than ever,” says editor Andrea Cardinali.

Unrae therefore wishes to put forward a counter-narrative that presents the car as a social, industrial, employment, tourism and personal resource.

However, the industrial and social landscape has changed, and so the challenge that UNRAE is taking on is a demanding one. Car owners have extended their replacement cycle for a number of reasons, including the quality and features of the vehicles, which in a replacement market means fewer new registrations. The industry, for other reasons, has shifted its focus from volumes to margins: selling – perhaps one fewer vehicle – without losing money.