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The Italian government plans to spend 930 million euros this year to encourage consumers to replace petrol and diesel cars with electric cars, prioritizing models made in Italy.
Roma will offer up to 13,750 euros to low-income households who replace their Euro 2 cars that are more than 20 years old with electric vehicles, according to a concept note seen by the Financial Times.
The right-wing government of President Giorgia Meloni aims to boost sales of Italian-made EVs after nearly 80% of the funds spent in the first phase of the scheme set up in 2022 were earmarked for foreign-made cars. The concept note states that one of the objectives of the incentive scheme is to “promote the purchase of cars actually produced in Italy”.
The program will be financed by the €8.7 billion Automotive Fund established by the previous government of Mario Draghi, which allocates up to €1 billion annually until 2030 to finance the greening of Italy’s motor fleet.
Developed by Italy’s Ministry of Industry in consultation with global car manufacturer Stellantis, the scheme offers incentives tailored to the age of the vehicle being scrapped and whether the new vehicle purchased is a hybrid or fully electric vehicle. .
Italy has Europe’s oldest and most polluting car fleet, with an estimated 11 million vehicles below Euro 3 standards, but production stopped 19 years ago.
The country also has one of the lowest electric vehicle penetration rates in Europe, partly due to poor charging networks outside major cities. According to data from Schmidt Automotive, only 3% of fully electric cars were sold in Italy from January to October last year, compared to an average of 16% in Western Europe.
While EV sales have increased significantly in almost every other market, with Spain, the UK, Germany and France all up by more than 30%, battery car sales in Italy only increased by 1%. .
Italy’s poor charging network means consumers are reluctant to move to battery-only cars, leading to sales of plug-in hybrid cars outpacing battery-only cars, as well as Spain. This means Italy is one of only four markets in Europe, including Greece. I’m afraid of running out of battery, so I chose a fully electric model.
The development of this plan comes as Meloni’s government is in talks with Stellantis, Italy’s only major car manufacturer, and has asked Stellantis to increase the annual production volume of all types of vehicles in Italy. It is encouraging production to increase to 1 million units (this production level was last reached in 2017). .
Stellantis Italia sold just under 600,000 vehicles in Italy last year, accounting for about 38% of the estimated 1.57 million new cars purchased in the country.