EVs inspire growth in Italy’s new car market

09 April 2025

Italy’s new-car market bounced back to growth in March, with electric vehicles (EVs) continuing to perform strongly this year. Autovista24 special content editor Phil Curry examines the latest figures.

Italy’s new-car market recorded its first month of growth in 2025 during March, as the market looks to stabilise following eight consecutive losses.

Last month’s tally of 172,303 registrations was 6.3% up year on year, according to data provided by ANFIA. However, the figures compare against an anomalous month in 2024. With an early Easter period last year, many registrations were delayed into April.

However, compared to March 2023, which saw higher registrations due to the end of the supply-chain crisis, the results remain positive. The market achieved a 2.4% increase, highlighting the improvement last month.

‘After the declines in the first two months of 2025, in March the Italian car market improved its performance compared to the same month last year, which had the same number of working days,’ commented Roberto Vavassori, president of ANFIA.

Reducing Italy’s ageing parc

Italy’s electrified passenger-car market, made up of hybrids, battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), drove the market in March.

This boost comes following the announcement of a new European Action Plan, which has amended the period for CO₂ emission regulations to be met. Carmakers will now be able to average their figures over a three-year period, allowing more opportunities to avoid fines.

‘We hope that the European institutions will quickly adopt this proposal, which, although far from what our sector would really need, unblocks a stalemate that has become unsustainable,’ added Vavassori.

While the plan focuses on new vehicles, Vavassori believes more can be done to reduce the bloc’s aging car parc. By doing so, overall CO₂ pollution would be reduced as well.

‘To date, the European vehicle fleet, like the Italian one, has an average age of approximately 12.5 years, with high risks of accidents and certainty of pollution,’ he added.

‘Incentivising the replacement of the European vehicle fleet, and therefore also the Italian one, through well-designed financial and fiscal aid, supporting eco-friendly Made in Europe products and components is the main way to combine environmental responsibility with industrial responsibilities.’

Record EV results

When it comes to the EV market, the registration volumes in Italy do not make it one of the leading countries. However, March proved positive for both BEVs and PHEVs, with strong results.

BEV registrations increased by 74.8% in the month, with 9,369 deliveries. This was up by 4,009 units year on year. The figure is the second-highest total for monthly BEV registrations in the country, following the incentive-affected jump in June 2024.

March’s performance gave the all-electric powertrain a share of 5.4%, up by 2.1pp compared to the same month last year.

Across the first three months of the year, BEVs registrations have increased by 72.5%, with strong growth across the period. Its 5.2% of total deliveries in the period grew 2.2pp.

PHEVs also enjoyed a strong month, with registrations up 36.1% year on year. This equated to 7,608 units, the powertrain’s best performance in the country.

However, the lower volumes meant that despite the record result, PHEVs only took a 4.4% share of the market last month. This was an improvement on the 3% held in March 2024.

Over the first quarter, PHEVs have seen registrations improve by 31%, with 18,616 deliveries. This equates to a 4.2% market share, up by 1.1pp year on year.

Hybrid dominance

Hybrids, made up of full and mild-hybrid models, were the dominant powertrain in March. Their percentage growth of 23.8% was lower than other electrified technologies, yet their unit total of 77,837 was up by 14,946 deliveries compared to last year.

While other large European markets, such as France and Germany, have only recently seen hybrid powertrains overtake petrol, the situation is different in Italy. The technology has been the dominant fuel type since the third quarter of 2021, according to statistics from ACEA.

Therefore, it is no surprise that the 45.2% market share achieved last month makes it the leading powertrain. However, its position in the market has improved, with this share up by 6.4 percentage points compared to the same period in 2024. This means its gap to petrol has widened, and sat at 18.5pp in March.

In the first quarter, hybrid registrations are up by 15.3%, with 198,685 deliveries. This gave the powertrain a 44.7% market share, up 6.5pp. Its gap to petrol widened, from 7.1pp in the first three months of 2024, to 18.1pp this year.

Poor for petrol and diesel

While electrified powertrains soared in March, petrol and diesel models continued to struggle.

Petrol suffered its eighth monthly decline in a row, although its 46,076-unit total was its best volume-performance since March 2024. This comparison meant the fuel-type’s registrations fell 9.4% year on year.

With a 26.7% market share, the powertrain fell further away from hybrids in the competitive structure of the Italian market. This hold was 4.7pp down compared to last year. Despite this, petrol is comfortably the second-best technology in the country.

Between January and March, petrol registrations declined 15.8%, with 118,107 deliveries. This gave the technology a 26.6% hold of total registrations in the period, a drop of 4.5pp

Diesel registrations also struggled again in March. The 18,122 units delivered represented a decline of 25.8% compared to the same point in 2024. The result was a 13^th-consecutive double digit drop for the powertrain.

However, despite this, diesel remained Italy’s third-best powertrain in March. Its share of 10.5% was a drop of 4.6pp, but it continued to stay ahead of both BEVs and PHEVs.

In the first quarter, diesel deliveries have sunk. Their 44,685-unit total is 34.1% down year on year, while the 10.1% market share has fallen 4.9pp.

Electrified leads

Combining BEVs and PHEVs, the EV market achieved a 55% improvement in registrations last month. This equated to a rise of 6,027 units compared to March 2024.

In the first quarter, EVs have performed strongly. Registrations are up 51.1%, with an extra 14,063 units delivered to customers.

Adding hybrids into the mix, the electrified market improved by 28.4%, with 20,973 more models taking to Italian roads. This sector sits comfortably ahead of the internal-combustion engine (ICE) market, with a share of 55% of all registrations, up 9.4pp.

Over the first three months of 2025, the electrified market has risen 20.2%, and accounts for 54.1% of total registrations. This is an improvement of 9.8pp year on year.

However, the ICE market continues to struggle. In March, combined registrations of petrol and diesel models were down 14.7%, a loss of 11,067 units. The technology’s market share fell 9.1pp, ending the month at 37.3%.

Between January and March, fossil-fuel powertrains have seen deliveries fall 21.8%, equating to a loss of 45,251 models. The 36.7% market share secured during this period is down 9.4pp year on year.