Electric cars still the prerogative of a few, sales on the rise for luxury segments and an aging fleet for most Italian motorists.

This is what emerges from the study conducted by Bain & Company for Aniasa, the association that, within Confindustria, represents the mobility and rental services sector. According to the survey, the automotive industry is destined to change under the pressure of electric – which, however, fails to take off on large numbers – and which must deal with the pressure of the large manufacturers of the East able to produce innovative vehicles at lower costs.

Then there is the dichotomy that sees the growth of luxury segments in the face of a drastic collapse in scrapping in 2002, equal to thirty percent less than in 2021. The data photographs a reality in which increasingly older cars circulate on Italian roads, with an average age of 12 years, higher than that of twenty years ago.

Almost half a million fewer cars have been scrapped and progressive electrification is leading to a gradual disengagement of traditional manufacturers from the small car segment. The A segment, historically very important in Italy, with shares equal to one fifth of the market, has begun to retreat, up to 15%, to the benefit of the larger (and expensive) car segments.

Therefore, at least for the moment, the false myth of small electric city cars collapses: to date, electric vehicles obtain the largest share in the segments of medium-large cars.

In registrations in the first quarter of 2023, the BEV (pure electric vehicles) share in medium and large cars is around 13% of the total market, compared to 2.6% in compact cars. The BEVs are also more concentrated in the big cities: petrol engines and hybrid cars always win. "To achieve the objectives set for 2035, our country has no alternative to reviewing the tax burden on tourist, urban and corporate mobility services with low environmental impact", points out Aniasa.

Despite the increasingly pressing obligation on the part of large urban centers to abandon cars with older and more polluting technology (and the controversy that is affecting the Municipality of Rome in recent weeks is an example), Italians tend, necessarily and accounts in hand, to keep their old car and, if I can no longer use it, to seriously evaluate the choice of rental instead of facing the expense of a new model.

"One of the unstoppable trends of the Italian car market that clearly emerges from the study is undoubtedly the growth of rental as a car acquisition channel - commented the vice president Aniasa, Italo Folonari - The rental fills the void thanks to certain costs and the possibility of spreading the cost of 'technological risk' over several years. The trend is expected to continue in 2023, as shown by the data for the first four months of the year", his projection.

The study shows that in 2022, the long-term segment saw turnover grow by 7% more than in 2021. The growing figure in the short term (+59% to a year), both the number of rentals (+41%) and that of the days of use of the vehicles (+28%) recorded at the end of covid restrictions, must, however, deal with a pandemic that in 2021 had brought losses for the average fleet equal to 28 percent.

From 2015 to today, the old continent has lost the production on its territory of 5 million and 300 thousand cars, today mostly made in China.

According to operators in the sector, almost one in three new cars is registered by rental operators, "with - they say - benefits on the quality of the vehicles and polluting emissions". But "the East wind is blowing on the automotive sector": new native HEV (hybrid) players are appearing from China both in the mainstream and in the top segments. The Chinese BYD is the first manufacturer in the world (where Tesla maintains the highest step in the Bev): the bulk of sales are recorded in China, but the share in Europe is gradually increasing.

"To encourage the transition from ownership to the use of vehicles, an adequate use of the tax lever is needed to alleviate the pressure on urban, tourist and business mobility", it was concluded on the sidelines of the presentation of the study: "In this context it is therefore necessary and urgent that Italy accelerate investments in the automotive supply chain, reaffirming its industrial role in the sector: the key is to focus on the excellence of Made in Italy (the 'National Champions' of the sector) through the progressive overcoming of old technologies, the historic flagship of the country, to develop new centers of excellence and competence in the world of electrification".