Car dealerships collapsing, 150,000 jobs at risk

The success of the Ecobonus auto seems not to be enough. Despite the funds allocated by the government – half a billion euros – are running out well before the deadline, the automotive sector fails to return to pre-Covid levels. Even though sales are slowly rising (from the 90% abyss they had sunk in April), the dealer network still suffers the effects of the pandemic e risks collapse. The alarm was raised by Federauto Confcommercio, which lists alarming figures to say the least.

Covid, dealers at risk of collapse: the figures

According to the trade association that represents the motor vehicle sales network in our country, due to the quarantine and the economic crisis, the dealerships registered a drop in turnover ranging from 40% to 60% compared to last year. If the situation does not rapidly improve, several thousand auto dealers would risk closing, leaving tens of thousands of people out of work. According to the estimates provided by Federauto Confcommercio, also taking into account the related workers, over 150,000 jobs are at risk.

Ecobonus wrong choice

According to representatives of car salesmen, then, the Ecobonus turned out to be the wrong tool. Or, to be more precise, the articulation chosen by the government ended up penalizing the vehicle segments that really needed a “push”.

According to Filena Esposito, delegate of Federauto Confcommercio Campania, the car incentives in July and August “they were insufficient, however, calculated without taking into account the fact that Italy has the oldest vehicle fleet in Europe with an average age per car of about twelve years. A real flop for everyone. Dealers and users “. So, while there are still tens of millions of euros available for the most “ecological” cars (full electric and hybrid, so to speak), the incentives for cars with only internal combustion engines have already ended.

“The Government – continues the representative of Federauto Campania – has decided to allocate greater incentives for the purchase of electric vehicles, which represent just 2% of the market as they are rather expensive and difficult to manage due to the lack of infrastructure. All justified by a green policy that forgets to mention that the new Euro6 diesel engines are less polluting than traditional motor vehicles ”. The solution to save goat and cabbage (Ecobonus funds and dealers) is that of divert part of the funds provided for electric and hybrid (which would remain unused) towards the other segments.

– .