Italy September 2020: Government incentives lift private sales up 25%, trigger first market lift of 2020 (+9.8%)

Renault Captur sales are up 139.5% year-on-year in Italy in September. Picture quattroruote.it

The scrappage schemes and green car incentives implemented at the start of August in Italy have had a chance to stretch their legs in September which marks the first year-on-year gain of 2020 at a solid +9.8% to 157.253 registrations. This leads to a year-to-date tally down -34% or roughly 500.000 units to 972.959. Unlike Spain (813.142 Covid cases as of today), France (664.289) and the UK (518.227), Italy (327.586) hasn’t experienced a 2nd wave of coronavirus, minimising the risk of lockdowns in the last quarter of 2020. In this context, we have amended our 2020 Forecast for Italy up from 1.38 million (-28%) last month to 1.43 million (-25%). However local manufacturers association UNRAE points that the good result of September is further proof that incentive policies are a necessary tool to overcome an extraordinary market crisis”, and should be prolonged in order to keep oxygen flowing towards the automotive industry.

The new hybrid version accounts for 46.5% of Panda sales this month.

Propped by incentives, private sales soar 25% year-on-year to 107.932 and a stunning 68.6% share vs. 60.3% in September 2019, rental sales are up 5.8% to 27.419 and 17.4% share vs. 18.1% including 3.378 short-term rentals (+14.4%) and 20.758 long term leases (+5%). Company sales dive -29% to 21.902 and 13.9% of the market vs. 21.6% a year ago. Year-to-date, private sales also fare “best” at -27.4% to 610.624 and 62.8% share vs. 57% over the same period in 2019, rental sales are off -40.1% to 221.201 and 22.7% share vs. 25% last year, including 53.816 short-term rentals (-57.5%) and 148.881 leases (-30.2%) while company sales drop -46.6% to 141.134 and 14.5% share vs. 17.9% in 2019.

The Dacia Sandero is up 93.9% in September.

Looking at sales by fuel, petrol is down -19.1% in September to 51.607 and 32.8% share vs. 44.6% a year ago, diesel only edges down -3% to 50.863 and 32.3% share vs. 36.6%, GPL is up 8.2% to 11.963 and 7.6% vs. 7.7%, HEV soars 214.1% to 32.349 and 20.6% share vs. 7.2%, BEV is up 225.3% to 4.089 and 2.6% vs. 0.9% and PHEV shoots up 263.8% to 2.874 and 1.8% share vs. 0.6%. Year-to-date, petrol is down -39.4% to 389.544 and 40% share vs. 43.6%, diesel is off -44.1% to 340.003 and 34.9% vs. 41.3%, GPL down -39.9% to 64.158 and 6.6% vs. 7.2%, HEV up 60.6% to 126.070 and 13% vs. 5.3%, BEV up 127.6% to 17.549 and 1.8% vs. 0.5% and PHEV up 210.3% to 12.362 and 1.3% vs. 0.3%.

The Suzuki Ignis breaks into the Italian Top 20 for the first time.

Over in the brands ranking, Fiat (+19.3%) for once vastly outperforms an already strong market, meaning its share almost matches its YTD level at 14.8% vs. 15%. However strong Fiat’s performance is in September, it is not the most impressive: below Volkswagen (-3.5%), Renault (+75.5%) and sister brand Dacia (+62.4%) have literally flown off Italian dealerships this month, respectively up 2 spots on August to #3 and up one to #8. Jeep (+24.4%), Toyota (+16.1%) and Ford (+12%) also impress with market-beating double-digit gains in the remainder of a Top 10 that sees no carmaker in negative: Mercedes (+7%), Peugeot (+3.5%) and Citroen (+1.7%) posting more modest increases. Further down, Tesla (+154.9%), Suzuki (+98.1%), Skoda (+48.4%), Honda (+32.8%) and Mitsubishi (+29.8%) stand out while among smaller brands Great Wall (+525%), DR Motor (+192.1%), Mahindra (+129.6%) and Aston Martin (+100%) shine.

The Mercedes GLA breaks its Italian ranking record at #36. Picture quattrorute.it

Model-wise, the Fiat Panda (+52.4%) is lifted to 8.9% share by its new HEV variant accounting for 46.5% of its September volume and by far the best-seller in the HEV segment at 6.505 sales above the Toyota Yaris (3.294) and Ford Puma (2.456). The Lancia Ypsilon (+12.8%) reclaims the 2nd spot it holds YTD with the HEV representing 48.5% of its sales for the month, while the Renault Clio (+122.9%) rallies back up 13 spots on August to advance to #3 both in September and YTD. The Jeep Renegade (+24.7%) is up one to #4 and the Toyota Yaris (+18.3%) up 27 to #5 vs. #18 so far this year. The Renault Captur (+139.5%), Dacia Sandero (+93.9%) and Duster (+44.9%) also score surreal year-on-year lifts while the Ford Puma celebrates a 2nd straight month inside Italy’s Top 10 at #7 vs. #4 in August. Below, the Suzuki Ignis (+300.2%) is boosted up 4-fold year-on-year by its HEV variant (2.246 sales out of 2.249!) to break into the Italian Top 20 for the first time at #19 (PB #32 last March), while the Suzuki Swift (#37) posts a similar performance at 1.284 HEV out of 1.285 sales for the month and the Mercedes GLA (+79.1%) breaks a 5 year-old ranking record at #36 vs. #40 in July 2015.

Previous month: Italy August 2020: Ford Puma surges to world record #4, Citroen, VW impress in stabilised market (-0.5%)

One year ago: Italy September 2019: VW hits highest share this decade (9.9%), places T-Cross #3 in market up 12.9%

Full September 2020 Top 45 All-brands and Top 50 models below.