Italy sales dropped 12% in February but incentives boosted demand from private buyers

MILAN -- Italy's new-car sales declined 12 percent in February to 142,998, according to data from the country's ministry of infrastructure and transport.

A rise in demand from private customers failed to offset a drop in sales to short-term rental companies.

According to the ANFIA industry association, it was the worst February for registrations in the last 6 years.

Sales to private customers were up 11 percent, helped by a government program to subsidize new cars with low CO2 emissions, which had run out of funds by late October but was revived in late December.

The government is providing 120 million euros ($140 million) to offer a 2,000-euro incentive to buyers of cars emitting up to 60 grams per km of CO2.

Short-term rental demand fell 72 percent while long-term rental demand fell 16 percent, according to data from market researcher Dataforce. Business sales declined 5.6 percent, while self-registrations by dealerships dropped 3 percent.

Despite the market slump, registrations of plug-in hybrid and full-electric vehicles rose 123 percent to 8,370 for a 5.8 percent market share, importer association UNRAE said.

Of these, sales of plug-in hybrids increased 302 percent to 4,913 for a 3.4 percent market share. Sales of full-electric vehicles increased 37 percent to 3,457 and their market share rose to 2.4 percent from 1.5 percent.

The Fiat New 500 was the most popular EV last month, with 583 units sold.

The Jeep Compass compact SUV was the most popular plug-in hybrid model, ahead of the Renault Captur and Volvo XC 40 midsize SUV.

Full-hybrid and mild-hybrid sales were up 146 percent for a 28.8 percent market share, higher than the 25 percent share of diesel cars. Diesel sales fell 37 percent.

Gasoline car sales fell 36 percent in February to a market share of 32.8 percent, 12 percentage points down from February 2020.

Sales of cars powered by liquefied petroleum gas were 18 percent lower with a 5.2 percent market share (down from 5.6 percent in 2020).

Demand for vehicles driven by compressed natural gas declined by 5.4 percent, giving the powertrain a market share of 2.4 percent.

The increase in sales of electrified vehicles helped lower CO2 emissions to an average of 125.8 grams per km for the month compared with 136.2 g/km in January 2020, UNRAE said.

The new Stellantis group, formed from the merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and PSA Group, had a 41.4 percent share of the Italian market in February, up from 39.3 percent in January but down from 41.7 percent in February 2020.

Stellantis's share was by far the largest, ahead of Volkswagen Group, with 14.9 percent (down 2.1 percentage points) and the Renault Group at 7.8 percent (down 0.9 percent).

Fiat brand registrations declined 18 percent, Alfa Romeo fell 55 percent, Lancia volume dropped by 35 percent and Maserati sales were 31 percent lower. Jeep was down 0.9 percent.

Click here for February and 2-month Italy sales by brand.

Peugeot sales were down 1.4 percent, Opel sales declined by 4.4 percent and DS fell 48 percent. Citroen sales were up 2.6 percent.

Within the VW Group, both the VW brand and Seat sales dropped by 32 percent. The previous best-seller, the Golf, was only the fifth most popular model within the VW range with 1,290 sales, beaten by the T-Roc, T-Cross and Tiguan crossovers and by the Polo small hatchback.

The Skoda brand was up 0.4 percent. Audi declined by 5 percent, while Porsche registrations dropped by 14 percent.

Renault Group's Dacia brand posted a 5.3 percent growth, while Renault brand sales fell 33 percent.

Ford's registrations were down 11 percent. The Ford Puma compact crossover was the third most popular nameplate after the Fiat Panda minicar and Lancia Ypsilon small hatchback.

Toyota sales increased 5.6 percent, while Nissan fell 26 percent. Hyundai sales were up 1.4 percent, while sister brand Kia fell 18 percent.

BMW brand sales declined by 4.3 percent and rival Mercedes-Benz dropped by 19 percent.

Through February, Italy sales fell 13 percent to 277,145.

Dataforce forecasts that total sales this year will rise 12 percent to 1.55 million.