The Italian car market is flying with FCA well above the average. In May, registrations of new cars in our country grew by 27,3% over the year, to 187.631 units (to find a similar result, you have to go back 7 years, to May 2009, when 189.871 were registered.).
The FCA group recorded an increase higher than the market by scoring +33,3%, to 55.900 units. It was since 2006 that FCA did not grow by such a high value in May. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles' share was 29,8 percent, up 1,4 percentage points compared to May 2015, the highest value since May 2013. This is according to data released by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transportation. Even in the first five months, on a market up 20,51% to 875.778, FCA recorded a higher increase (+23,8%) to over 255.800 units.
On the whole market, compared with May 2015, “calendar effects also weighed – commented Aurelio Nervo, president of the National Association of Automotive Industries – with 2 more working days in the month that has just ended. In any case, this is the fifth consecutive double-digit growth for the Italian market (and the 24th consecutive monthly increase), a decidedly more significant growth” than the +11,5% in April.
The year-end forecasts, which stand at around 1,7 million units, with an increase between +7 and 9% compared to 2015, suggest "more contained market increases in the second half of 2016", says Nervo , who adds: "Perhaps the increase in petrol and diesel prices, which we already witnessed in April and which will be confirmed in May, will also have some impact in this sense".
According to Filippo Pavan Bernacchi, president of Federauto, “it is fair to admit that this month we expected a slowdown, but similar to the +11% in April. The +27,3% in May is a result in line with the first quarter of the year and exceeds all wildest expectations. Promotions probably continue to garner customer acceptance, as well as super depreciation for companies. But we believe there is something else too, that is a strong pressure from houses on channels such as rental and zero km”.
Massimo Nordio, president of Unrae, indicates as a fundamental factor “the super-depreciation in sales to companies, which proves to work well: in particular small and medium-sized companies have appreciated the partial reduction of the tax burden. Hence the need to shed light on the future of this provision as soon as possible, promptly plan its renewal, as has already been done in France, to avoid an unproductive anticipation of demand at the end of the year and the subsequent collapse in 2017, also including the extension of the 40% increase in the deductibility limit (now at around 25 thousand euros), which will also expire on the same date. Unrae's hope is that, in terms of company cars, the raising of the current deductibility rate (20%) may also be taken into consideration, to bring it closer to the tax regimes applied in the major European countries”.
