Italy May 2021: Toyota cracks podium in worsening market (-27.9% on two years ago)

Toyota C-HR sales are up 7.9% on two years ago in May.

The Italian new car market soars 43% year-on-year in May to 142.730 sales, lifting the year-to-date tally up 62.8% to 735.125. However a more telling comparison is with pre-pandemic May 2019, and this time sales sink -27.9% which is much worse than in March (-12.4%) and April (-16.7%). The year-to-date tally is now down -19.3% on the same period two years ago. All evolutions below are vs. May 2019. Private sales resist at -19.6% to 84.529 and 58.7% share vs. 52.9% in May 2019, long term leases also at -21.7% to 26.210 and 18.2% vs. 16.9%, while short term rentals dive -49.9% to 12.911 and 9% vs. 13% and self-registrations also struggle -49.4% to 12.544. Sales of petrol vehicles are off -48.4% to 44.664 and 31% share vs. 43.6% in May 2019, diesel is down -59.6% to 33.653 and 23.4% share vs. 41.9%, HEV soars 295.1% to 40.343 and 28% share vs. 5.1%, PHEV surges 1499.8% to 7.727 and 5.4% share vs. 0.2% and BEV is up 340.5% to 5.163 and 3.6% vs. 0.6%.

In the brands ranking, both Fiat (-31.8%) and Volkswagen (-30.5%) fall faster than the market but they manage higher market shares than year-to-date at 16.7% and 9.2% respectively. Toyota (-3.6%) minimises its losses and climbs two spots on April to crack the Italian podium for what is believed to be the first time ever, eclipsing its previous best of #4 hit last December. Peugeot (-21.1%) is knocked down to #4 ahead of Ford (-35.4%) and Citroen (-23.4%). Audi (-8.4%) is the only remaining Top 10 brand managing a single-digit fall just as Renault (-56.3%) and Opel (-48.8%) struggle. Further down, Volvo (+26.5%), Land Rover (+4.9%), Suzuki (+4.2%) and Mazda (+0.1%) are the only gainers in the Top 30 while newcomer Cupra is up 8 spots on last month to #26 and 0.5% share. Below, DR Motor (+275.8%) and Tesla (+166.3%) stand out.

Model-wise, the Fiat Panda (-28.1%) easily holds onto the top spot with the Mild Hybrid variant (MHEV) accounting for 74% of its May volume. The Fiat 500 (-14.4%) threepeats at #2 as the MHEV variant accounts for 76.6% of its May volume and the BEV variant for 18.9%. Lastly in an unchanged podium the Lancia Ypsilon (-24.2%) ranks third with MHEV sales representing 84.7% of its May total. Stellantis monopolises the Top 4 with the Fiat 500X (-21.4%) up one spot on April to #4. The Ford Puma gains two ranks on last month to slip inside the Top 5 at #5, distancing the Toyota Yaris (-4%) and Jeep Compass (+6.8%). Outside the Top 10, the Peugeot 2008 (+8.4%), VW T-Cross (+2.6%), Toyota Aygo (+37.2%), Opel Crossland (+0.7%), Volvo XC40 (#26), Toyota C-HR (+7.9%), Hyundai Tucson (+30.4%) and Suzuki Ignis (+50%) manage gains vs. two years ago.

Previous month: Italy April 2021: Fiat 500 up 45.5% in market down -16.7% on two years ago

One year ago: Italy May 2020: Registrations bounce back to -49.4%, VW T-Roc up to record 2nd place

Full May 2021 Top 43 brands and Top 50 models below.