ExpertEye European Automotive Report Q2 2016 | Page 21
economy in general. A fall in unemployment has been helped by the three-year social
Top 10 Makes
contribution exemption for new permanent hires and there is also good news for Italian
consumers as the proposed 2016 increase in VAT to 24% from 22% has been delayed to 2017
due to the rising economy but VAT is still planned to hit 25% in 2018 unless Italy hits its
budget targets.
New car sales have risen 19.2% YTD leaving Italy only 143,000 cars behind France. Should
the economy continue to hit its targets, resulting in further postponements of a VAT
increase, 2017 could also see double digit growth with the potential for Italy to hit 2.3
million new car sales and overtake the more sluggish French market in 2018 before falling
back towards the end of the decade. The rush to avoid the VAT increase has also seen LCV
sales shoot up, rising to 27.6% in June and 31.3% YTD. Domestic vehicle sales still dominate
the Italian market with the Fiat Panda being the number one selling vehicle followed by the
Median
M arket Average
AUDI
Italians. Whilst SUVs remain popular in Italy the more practically sized medium premium
models have the strongest RVs whilst small SUVs have dropped back a little in the last
quarter in part due to the increased supply into the market place.
With the economy back in the black and unemployment falling forecast RVs have continued
to recover, rising 6 percentage points in the last year. Assuming a new banking crisis can be
avoided we believe RVs may still rise a further couple of percentage points over the next
year or two to bring values more in line with the other major used car markets. However
Italy has a track record of volatility and there is some risk that RVs could also fall by 4-5
percentage points by 2018.
European Automotive Report - 2016 Quarter 2
44.7
+3.0%
43.3
+1.0%
+2.5%
-3.0%
JAGUAR
41.3
+3.8%
JEEP
40.8
+2.8%
39.2
+2.3%
BM W
40.9
VOLKSWAGEN
39.4
HONDA
38.9
M ASERATI
ALFA ROM EO
38.5
Top 10 Segments
Lancia Ypsilon, and then Fiat’s 500L, 500, 500X and Punto.
The premium brands continue to enjoy the strongest RVs thanks to the image conscious
Months
44.0
M INI
last 3
RV%
36.9
LAND ROVER
% Change
Median
M arket Average
C2 M edium Premium
J3 Premium SUV
J2 Compac t SUV
J1 Small SUV
D2 Large Premium
-0.5%
+0.5%
+1.8%
+7.9%
% Change
last 3
RV%
Months
42.7
+4.6%
36.9
42.6
41.8
40.4
+1.0%
+0.5%
+2.8%
-1.8%
40.2
+0.2%
C1 M edium
39.0
+1.6%
E1 Exec utive
37.5
J4 Luxury