There are no good news in sight for Italy’s EV market, which is witnessing a radical turn from the burgeoning growth of the past few years to a sudden, steady decline. Meanwhile, the rest of Europe continues to maintain growth trends despite economic uncertainties and global supply chain shortages.
There is no sign of relief for the ongoing EV crisis in Europe’s fourth largest auto market. As the rest of the Continent continues to enjoy an increasing share of plug-in vehicles across all major countries, Italy is showing a worrying pullback, whose causes – as ever – are also political.
All is not well in this hot Italian summer, as the fourth largest European auto market keeps showing signs of weakness in the transition to electric mobility. While all of Europe is experiencing clear signs of fatigue, due to slowing economies amidst Ukraine and energy wars, Italy is now experiencing a more dramatic decline, directly affecting electrified vehicles.
Italy’s auto market is at a crossroads. While most European markets continued seeing EV growth through the first six months of 2022, albeit in an overall subdued automotive economy, the Bel Paese was victim of a self-inflicted wound, as the Italian government struggled for months before launching an overdue fiscal package to support low emission vehicles. The result so far is a stop to the growth that had characterised electric mobility for the past five years in a row.
Signs of recovery in Italy’s car market as plug-in registrations go up at the end of the first half of the year. With a new incentive scheme now fully operational, sales of electrified powertrains were widely expected to pick up, and so it was.
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?
