Italy’s EV jeopardy continues as registrations stabilise in October

10 November 2025

While it waits for a potential incentive boost, Italy’s electric vehicle (EV) market is struggling. Registrations are up, but volumes are low, and the situation is impacting the wider market. Autovista24 special content editor Phil Curry examines the latest data.

Italy’s new-car market remained stable in October, according to industry association ANFIA. Registrations were down by 0.5% in the month, with 125,961 passenger cars delivered. This equates to a drop of just 638 units compared to October 2024.

The deficit would have been larger if not for the performance of EVs. Made up of plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) and battery-electric vehicles (BEVs), these powertrains helped push Italy’s registration figures close to the black. Without them, the overall market would have suffered a 5.7% decline.

Reliance not an option

With volumes remaining low compared to other markets, Italy cannot rely on EV uptake to bring the new-car sector forward. Pending incentives may change the landscape, but could arrive too late to improve the yearly performance.

The country’s passenger car market has struggled this year. Just March, April and September have recorded growth so far across 2025. This has kept year-to-date figures down against 2024, with a devastating decline in June having a serious impact.

Since then, the market has been trying to rebalance its annual volumes. Despite the decline, October’s deliveries did help reduce the gap. Italy’s new-car sector was down 2.6% year on year between January and October. In total, 1,293,967 units made their way to customers. This was 0.3 percentage points (pp) better than September’s year-to-date decline of 2.9%.

The country continues to lag behind pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels. Spain’s October figures were above 2019 volumes, and the UK is expecting 2025 numbers to register an improvement. Italy remains far behind, however.

Last month’s totals were 20% down on October 2019, while in the first 10 months of this year, volumes are 20.4% lower, according to ANFIA.

Italy’s powertrain problem

Like other major European markets, Italy is seeing struggles with petrol and diesel registrations. However, the country has recorded a slower decline in diesel registrations. But as carmakers move away from the technology, and supply to the new-car market has dropped, so too has diesel.

Petrol registrations have also been in freefall this year, across all major European new-car markets, including Italy. But while internal-combustion engine (ICE) sales have dropped, Italy has been unable to replace them with EV volumes.

Both Spain and the UK, the two best-performing overall markets so far this year, have seen similar ICE struggles. However, their plug-in registration growth has exceeded ICE losses. Meanwhile, Germany has used hybrids to help offset the petrol and diesel decline.

While Italy’s EV numbers are up year on year, they are still low across the first 10 months of 2025. Often on par with Spain, this year Italy looks to be the worst-performing of the European big five.

Italy waits for incentives

Part of the problem comes down to incentives. While Spain’s MOVES III subsidy programme is still mostly active, Italy’s discounting plan has been surrounded by uncertainty.

Announced by the Ministry of Environment and Energy Security (MASE) in August, the application portal opened on 22 October. This was too late to affect the month’s numbers.

The scheme has seen €600 million set aside for new BEV purchases. Private individuals could receive up to €11,000 depending on income. A Euro 5 ICE model also needed to be scrapped. Small businesses could receive up to €20,000 per vehicle.

The long wait between the subsidy’s announcement and its implementation may have caused buyers to pause before purchasing. Additionally, applications must be made before the vehicle is bought. This means that, depending on delivery times, registration results may not be forthcoming.

But there appeared to be an appetite for the incentives. All of the scheme’s funds were accounted for roughly 24 hours after it went live, with 55,680,000 vouchers generated.

There have also been issues with the application platform itself. ‘Unfortunately, despite the time that had passed between the announcement and its actual usability, a robust platform was not implemented, which instead generated considerable confusion, especially among dealers,’ commented Roberto Vavassori, president of ANFIA.

‘Working with other automotive associations, we reported the situation to the Ministry, and after a temporary shutdown, the tool’s functionality was only reactivated at midday on 31 October.’

BEVs not proving popular

While BEV growth was impressive in Italy during October, the volume itself was not. Registrations of all-electric models were up 24.9% compared to the same month last year. However, this equated to just 6,280 units, a rise of 1,250 deliveries.

This meant BEVs took 5% of the total registrations tally in the month, up 1pp compared to October 2024. However, this is the lowest market share of all powertrains, including the ‘others’ category.

Between January and October, BEV registrations were up 26.5%. With a total of 67,335 units, this equated to a rise of 14,087 deliveries. The powertrain secured 5.2% of the market in the first 10 months of 2025, up 1.2pp, but remains the lowest of all powertrains.

The figures suggest a growing appetite for BEVs. However, the results of Italy’s incentive programme cannot come soon enough for the market.

Phenomenal PHEVs not enough

While BEV registrations are increasing, PHEVs continue to be the most popular EV powertrain. In October, deliveries were up 112.1% compared to the same month last year. In total, 9,086 units made it to Italian roads, up by 4,802 deliveries.

Yet despite this growth, the technology’s market share remains in single digits. Last month, this jumped by 3.8pp to 7.2%.

Over the first 10 months of 2025, PHEVs have impressed. Deliveries are up 76.5%, with 77,957 units finding their way to customers. Although this equated to a relatively small market share of 6%, it did signal a year-on-year increase of 2.7pp.

Combined, the EV market saw growth of 65% in October, thanks to the impressive PHEV performance. In total, 15,366 models were delivered, a difference of 6,052 units year on year.

This equated to just 12.2% of the monthly total, highlighting the struggle EVs are facing. While this marked a 4.8pp jump, it was the lowest plug-in share out of the big five European markets. Compared to Spain, the most similar in terms of volumes over recent years, Italy’s EV market was 10.2pp lower in the month.

Between January and October, 145,292 EVs were registered, a 49.1% increase. This gave the powertrain group an 11.2% hold of total volumes, up 3.9pp year on year.

ICE pulls Italy down

Petrol’s slide continued in October. In total, 28,998 units were registered in the month, a decline of 17.2%. The fuel type remains Italy’s second-most popular powertrain, with a 23% market share. This was down by 4.7pp compared to the same month last year, however.

Petrol has lost volume in every month of 2025 so far. This means its 325,627-unit total in the first 10 months was 16.9% down. It has managed to retain over a quarter of the market, however, with its 25.2% share down by 4.3pp.

Meanwhile, diesel suffered a dramatic 29.3% drop in October, although this still allowed for a five-figure result. In total, 11,745 units left forecourts, a decline of 4,857 units. Its 9.3% market share was enough to easily beat both EV powertrains, despite a 3.8pp fall year on year.

Between January and October, diesel saw a 31.4% decline in volumes to 127,401 units. While down 4.2pp, its 9.8% market share was still more than those of BEVs and PHEVs.

Combined, the ICE market dropped 21.1% in October, with 40,743 registrations. This was a deficit of 10,879 units, a figure that could not be overturned by the extra 6,052 EV deliveries. ICE models held 32.3% of the market, down by 8.5pp.

Over the first 10 months of 2025, ICE deliveries fell 21.6%, with 453,028 registrations. This was down by 124,485 units, while the technology’s market share fell 8.5pp, to 35%.

Italy’s hybrid help

While EV registrations were low and ICE deliveries dropped, hybrid volumes, including full and mild-hybrids, continued to lead.

In October, 57,629 hybrid models took to Italian roads, an increase of 6.4%. The technology was the most dominant in the country, with a 45.8% share of the market. This grew by 3pp compared to October 2024.

While this growth was lower than that of BEVs and PHEVs, it is compared to the high volumes achieved last year. Over the first 10 months of the year, hybrids recorded 575,460 deliveries, a rise of 8.9%. Its 44.5% market share increased by 4.7pp year on year.

Adding hybrids into the EV mix, registrations of electrified vehicles saw growth of 15% in October, with 72,995 deliveries. However, the 9,517-unit improvement was still not enough to overcome the 10,879-unit loss that the ICE market endured. The technology’s dominance continued to grow, however, with a 58% market share up 7.9pp.

Despite a 94,889-unit improvement and 15.2% year-on-year growth, electrified models have been unable to prevent Italy’s year-to-date slide. The powertrain group saw 720,752 units delivered in the period, equating to 55.7% of the market. This was a jump of 8.6pp compared to the same period in 2024.

On the gas

Adding to the pressure on EV performance, Italy’s ‘others’ category, made up of liquified petroleum gas (LPG), compressed natural gas (CNG) and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles, outperformed both PHEVs and BEVs in October.

The category saw 12,223 registrations in the month, with a 6.3% year-on-year improvement. This gave the powertrain group a 9.7% share of the delivery total, up 0.6pp.

From January to October, the category delivered 120,187 new models to customers. This was a drop of 4.4%, after a rollercoaster year. But its 9.3% share, while down 0.2pp, is still more than that of the two plug-in powertrains.