Car market, sales in Italy slow down: 0.16% drop in May

ROME – The car does not move, it remains still. Especially when it comes to sales. And after the recovery of the previous two months, the minus sign returns in registrations on the Italian market, even if the decline is minimal . In the month of May in Italy, 139,390 new cars were registered, 0.16% less than the same month in 2024. In the first five months of 2025, 722,452 cars were sold, with a decrease of 0.54% compared to the same period last year. The data were published by the Ministry of Transport.

The Italian car market is "substantially in line with that of the entire European Union" and "will remain stagnant at least in the short term given that the acquisition of orders in the last month was low for 97% of the dealers interviewed, while the level of new car stocks at dealerships was high for 45% and the turnout of visitors to the showrooms was low for 95%". This is explained by the Centro Studi Promotor based on the survey carried out among dealers. "In the near future, if nothing happens, the Italian outlook - he underlines - remains that of stagnation if not even a further decrease in sales volumes. The picture of the entire European Union is substantially in line with the Italian one and it is not clear how and when we will be able to return to pre-pandemic levels which, moreover, have already been reached and surpassed in the rest of the world". President Gian Primo Quagliano recalls that "no significant measure has been announced so far by the EU except the decision to spread the fines imposed by the EU itself over three years to force car manufacturers to follow its diktats". Quagliano observes that "to save the European car from the impending catastrophe, the first problem to be solved is how to save the European car from the European Union and its policies inspired not by rational environmentalism, but by ideological environmentalism".

Stellantis registered 39,118 cars in Italy in May, 7.6% less than the same month in 2024. The market share fell from 30.3% to 28%. In the first five months of the year, the group sold 216,811 cars, down 7.8% on the same period in 2024. The market share is 30% against 32.4%. Tesla sales in Italy fell by 20.32% to 855 units. The strongest signal comes from China: Mg motor , a group controlled by the giant Saic Motor , registered 4,299 cars in Italy in May (+16.06%). Omoda/Jaecoo also registered 988 cars, against the insignificant figure of the same period last year.

With respect to segments, Roberto Vavassori, president of Anfia , underlines that "the constant growth of SUVs continues, +6.7% and 57.4% share, while on the fuel front, both electric vehicles - with a growth of 40.8%, but with still weak shares both in the month and in the cumulative (5.1%) - and plug-in hybrids, at +52.3%, maintain the positive trend; the rise recorded by mild and full hybrid vehicles is also good, which increase by 12.1% in the month". Vavassori underlines that the announcement of the " new incentives for zero-emission vehicles envisaged by Mase represents a positive and unexpected element for the market , which could give a new boost to the demand for electric-only vehicles, albeit with the constraint of scrapping old vehicles and belonging to two ISEE bands".