“The phase out (i.e. phasing out, ed) of new cars with internal combustion engines must take place by 2035, while for vans and light commercial transport vehicles by 2040 ″. This was announced by the Ministry of Ecological Transition in a statement, at the end of the fourth meeting of the Cite, the Interministerial Committee for Ecological Transition. To participate the ministers of the ecological transition Roberto Cingolani, sustainable infrastructure and mobility Enrico Giovannini and economic development Giancarlo Giorgetti, which during the meeting, explains a note, “defined the timing of the replacement of vehicles with internal combustion engines”.
The press release goes on to write that “it is necessary to implement all the functional solutions for the decarbonisation of transport in a logic of ‘technological neutrality’, therefore enhancing not only electric vehicles, but also the potential of hydrogen, as well as recognizing – for the transition – the essential role of biofuels, in which Italy is building a cutting-edge domestic supply chain “. “As for niche manufacturers – concludes the press release -, specific measures may possibly be evaluated with the European Commission within the Community rules”. The farewell to internal combustion engines starting in 2035 could have significant impacts on the automotive manufacturing sector, which in Italy, especially after World War II, was a driving force for the entire national economy, but which in the last 20 years has experienced ups and downs, culminating in the profound crisis caused by the pandemic.
The numbers of Anfia, the association of the Italian automotive industry, tell of one national production increased from 2014 to 2017, going from 698 thousand units to 1.14 million, phase followed by a decline in 2018 by 7% to 1.06 million vehicles and again in 2019 by 14% to 915 thousand. Then, in 2020 Covid led to a collapse by 15.1% compared to 2019, for a total of 777 thousand volumes, 67% destined for foreign markets. In particular, in 2020 the domestic production of cars amounted to 452 thousand units, 16.6% less than in 2019. To weigh, also the gradual farewell to diesel with a number of diesel cars produced in Italy that from 2016 to 2020 is decreased by 18 percentage points, going from 33% to 15% of the total domestic production, equal to a decrease in volumes of 70.8% in the five-year period.
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