The overall Italian auto market recovered 5.7% YoY with over 112,000 units from September 2021, as per InsideEVs. However, a large portion of this gain is attributed to ICE models.
Italy’s auto market status
In hindsight, the electric vehicle market in Italy has seen a massive shift from the steep increase of recent years to a continuous drop. In contrast, most of Europe is still experiencing growth patterns even with existing economic uncertainty and supply chain bottlenecks worldwide.
The dismal patterns of 2022 were verified by Unrae data for September. Sales of electric vehicles saw a significant shift from prior significant growth levels. That said, the whole Italian auto market recovered 5.7% YoY from September 2021 with over 112,000 units.
Overall auto sales in Italy
However, a sizable amount of this gain was recorded by ICE models. Market share for gasoline-powered vehicles increased to 27.2% from 25% a year earlier.
Additionally, the share of diesel increased, rising from 19.1% in September 2021 to 19.3% today.
Meanwhile, plugless hybrids continued to be the most popular vehicle, with a 35.7% market share. It has increased from 31.3% YoY but is still slightly behind its recent August peak.
Regarding the purely electric vehicles, there was yet another alarming drop, with only 5,088 units sold. Compared to the nearly 8,500 registrations that set a record in September 2021, it dropped to more than 40%. Notably, this dramatic decline equates to a 4.5% stake in the market, down from almost 8% a year earlier.
On the other hand, 4,452 plug-in hybrids were sold, accounting for a 4% market share. However, they were “only” down 20% from the almost 5,500 registrations tallied the year before.
In comparison to the record 13.2% established in September 2021, the overall percentage of plug-in powertrains decreased to 8.5% for the month.
Italy’s top 10 BEVs in September 2022
Unfortunately, the Top 10 BEV ranking struggled in September due to a lack of pure electric vehicles.
The Tesla Model Y maintains its position at the top spot with 968 registrations. A similar feat was accomplished in March and June, making this current record the American SUV’s greatest performance in Italy to date.
However, it is worth noting that the Model 3 sold way more units in 2021 when Italy’s BEV market surged to greater levels.
As for the second place, the Fiat 500e fell below projections with 470 registrations. Nonetheless, it was enough to significantly outpace Smart ForTwo at the third spot with 308 units.
With 238 registrations, the Tesla Model 3 returned to the top four. VW ID.4 trailed it at position seven with 201 units. It performed better than the smaller ID.3, which missed the Top 10.
On the other hand, 183 registrations marked the premiere of the upscale small SUV Volvo XC40 Recharge. It is in eighth place with the same number of registrations as Opel Corsa-e.
The country risks missing the enormous opportunity that electric mobility offers, which the incoming government must realize.
