Ministry of Economic Development (Mise) by name, but Ministry of Development “electric” in fact. At least so it seems, given the obstinacy with which the head of the dicastery, Stefano Patuanelli, and his deputy, Stefano Buffagni, both of the 5 Star Movement, insist on excluding vehicles with endothermic engines from the revival of an incentive package in 2021 ( petrol and diesel), which make up 97% of the market. In practice, only cars with CO2 emissions up to 60 grams per kilometer would be rewarded with a super bonus, i.e. electric and rechargeable hybrids (together 3% market share in 11 months, 5.8% in November) .
Anfia, Unrae and Federauto – the three associations representing the Italian supply chain, foreign manufacturers and dealers – with the support of the metalworking unions and other majority parties, opposition included, continue to warn Mise: with the end of the freeze on layoffs on 31 March and with a measure that cuts off the market that represents the backbone of the Italian car system, the risk of catastrophe for the sector is increasingly real. The estimate of registrations, as of 31 December, is 1.4 million units, 27% less than in 2019.
In these days, in the meantime, there are also some numbers on the employment alarm in the sector: 30 thousand places immediately at risk, 20 thousand of which in distribution and the rest in production. And then there is the layoffs which recorded, in October, a + 500% in production and, in the first 10 months of the year, a + 6,000% in distribution.
To these numbers is added, then, the suffering of short-term rental and car sharing in the cities, sectors represented by Aniasa. The crisis generated by the pandemic, with the absence of demand and various restrictions, will produce a reduction in the turnover of the companies concerned between 50 and 60%, after the crisis has already led to peaks of up to -85%. There are 7 thousand workers, both direct and indirect, who operate in short-term car rental and car sharing. And it goes without saying that many of these people see their place shaky.
Hence the need to plan the planned incentives (500 million) bearing in mind the demand that, in September, led to the sudden exhaustion of the 100 million allocated for the purchase of endothermic cars, with the simultaneous scrapping of the old vehicle and the ‘reduction of 155 thousand tons of CO2.
In the government, also divided on how to support the “engine” of the economy, the president of the Chamber’s Productive Activities Commission, Martina Nardi (Pd), replies to the Mise recognizing the sector as the “backbone for much of Italian manufacturing and European “. And he states: «Encouraging the purchase of latest generation petrol and diesel cars has also had very positive effects thanks to the scrapping of 175 thousand old cars, against only 7 thousand changed with the bonus for electric and plug-in hybrids. We need to help families to dispose of their most polluting vehicles by also supporting the purchase of non-electric cars “.
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