2022 was a year of defeat for electric mobility in Italy. Europe’s fourth largest market struggled to keep up with the rest of Europe’s major auto markets. While EVs made important gains in market share throughout the continent, Italian sales of plug-in vehicles suffered an unanticipated setback.
Full electric cars were the truly negative surprise from Italy’s market in this year of uncertainty. BEVs declined by a whopping 26.6% YoY, from the over 67,000 units of 2021 to just fewer than 50,000, an unpredictable retreat. While the top three European markets reached new highs, with Germany at 17.7% BEV market share, France at 13.3%, and the UK at 16.6%, Italy’s BEV share dropped from the 4.6% of 2021 to an unflattering 3.7% for the whole of 2022.
Meanwhile, plug-in hybrids managed to overcome a difficult year with steady numbers, about 68,000 units for a negligible 2.7% YoY reduction in absolute sales. Given the wider contraction of the overall car market, PHEVs, however, gained share and reached 5.1%, up from 4.7% a year before. The trend first set in 2021, which saw PHEVs overtake BEVs in the Italian auto market, was thus reinforced in 2022.
The Fiat 500e won the annual crown of best selling BEV for the second year in a row, with 6,285 registrations. This is about 40% fewer than in 2021 , a worrying sign in the supermini’s home country. Smart ForTwo followed in second place, with a similarly underwhelming performance, at 4,545 units. Tesla Model Y gained its first annual podium, trailing the Smart with 4,276 registrations. This was a great result for an un-incentivised, €50,000+ upmarket model in the realm of A- and B-segment cars.
Tesla registration Europe data from $TLSA $TSLAQ
zshahan3 I don't understand why, but Italy has been making very backward political decisions lately and is not receptive to modern decisions