Italian new passenger car sales rose by 76pc to 156,100 units in September from the prior month, according to data released by the Associazione Nazionale Filiera Industria Autombilistica (ANFIA) on Oct 1.
Akin to developments in the French automotive industry last month, new passenger car registrations surged in September compared with the previous month as private buyers returned from their traditional annual vacations.
At the same time, Davis Index estimates that new car registrations were largely driven by purchases that had been held off until the Italian government increased the scale of the car sales incentive stimulus programme from €150mn to €450mn from Aug 1.
The Italian government stimulus programme provides €3,500 for scrapping vehicles that are more than ten years old when purchasing a new Euro 6 model vehicle with CO2 emissions of up to 110g/km and priced up to €40,000.
Car dealers are obliged to contribute up to €2,000 towards the sales incentive, while the government is also offering incentives of up to €8,000 for consumers purchasing zero-emission vehicles. While Italy’s stimulus programme will no doubt drive car sales in the short term, Davis Index calculates that this enlarged programme could only support the purchase of an additional 130,000 units.