Italy’s EV market is not yet out of the woods, but things are starting to look up again. As European countries continue their long run to electrification, the continent’s fourth largest auto market struggles to regain the pace it lost a few months ago.
Italy’s car market kept tumbling in April. As widely expected, with the government delaying the re-introduction of incentives for zero or low carbon models, and the promise to include some internal combustion engine options in the scheme, car buyers paused their purchase plans and waited. This affected the whole car market across all powertrains, resulting in yet another bad month.
It’s been a bad start of the year for the Italian car market, as 2022 inherited crises that had been brewing since the covid pandemic. With an ongoing chip (and broader materials) shortage, policy uncertainties, inflation spiking and a war in Europe among other things, car sales crashed and electrified options also started suffering.
It was widely expected, and it’s finally happened. While most European car markets keep posting new records and continued monthly growth for plug-in car sales, Italy’s is getting stuck in a rout of its own doing. Europe’s fourth largest market posts in March its first – and wild – BEV decline in many years of growth.
As Europe sets sail for ever more ambitious growth for electric vehicles, all is not well in the continent’s fourth largest car market, Italy. While other major European auto markets continued posting steep increases in EV adoption in February, the Bel Paese almost seemed to be grinding to a halt. Why is that?
The race of Italy’s electric car market shows signs of fatigue, as 2022 started off with mixed results. While other European countries continued boasting exponential rises in January consistent with the exuberance of year-end, the same was not completely true in the continent’s fourth largest car market.
2021 saw continued growth in the nascent Italian EV market. Amid the tail end of the coronavirus pandemic, uncertain financial incentives and the ongoing global chip shortage, electric mobility confirmed a momentum that has been gaining strength across Europe and the world.
2021 ended on mixed notes for Italy’s car market. Amidst the continued, stellar growth of electric mobility throughout the Old Continent, EV sales finished the year at record share levels in all major European markets. While Italy followed suit in share terms, total sales reached worrying lows throughout powertrain segments.
Italy’s EV market maintains a fast pace in November, while overall car sales continue their decline in tune with most other European countries. As internal combustion engines keep their downward trajectory, a new normal seems to be taking place: less overall sales, more electrified ones.
It’s yet another month of positive news for electric mobility throughout Europe, and Italy – the continent’s fourth largest market – is no less in scoring high EV gains in the midst of a global ICE meltdown.
