Italian passenger car production declined in February and in the first two months of the year, Kallanish notes from local carmakers association Associazione Nazionale Filiera Industria Automobilistica (Anfia) preliminary data.
Car output fell year-on-year by 5.1% in February to 41, 873 units and by 19.1% on-year in the January-February period to 69,249 units.
By comparison, German two-month output declined by 5% to 674.900 units, and by 2% to 374,800 cars in February. The UK recorded a rise in February of 14.6% to 79,907 cars and of 17.8% to 162,904 units in January-February. Spain’s February car production increased by 1.8% to 182,567 cars and in January-February by 9% to 359,375 cars, Anfia points out.
“The automotive production sector is in the context of industrial production still decreasing in February compared to the previous year’s levels. In February, the industrial production index as a whole closed down 3.1%, and is down 4.4% in the first two months of the year compared to the same period in 2023,” Anfia says in a report.
Italy has 23 car production plants. Spain has 17 plants, France 31 and Germany 42.
Last year, Italy produced 796,394 vehicles in total, including cars, vans and trucks. Anfia is collaborating with the government and Stellantis to define a roadmap for the automotive industry’s relaunch and energy transition. It aims at boosting Italy’s automotive production capacity beyond the level of 1 million vehicles/year through state support on decarbonisation, research and development and new production plant investments.
“We hope that in the coming weeks, consumers will be able to take advantage of the upcoming incentives of the new green bonus for the purchase of low-emission vehicles. Together with the actions to support demand for new technologies, it is important to create the conditions to increase national vehicle production volumes in the short-medium term, ensuring the levels of employment and competitiveness of the supply chain during and beyond the energy transition,” Anfia general director Gianmarco Giorda comments.
According to the World Steel Association’s Short Range Outlook (SRO) steel demand forecast for 2024 and 2025, while other steel-consuming sectors should show some recovery in 2024 and 2025, the automotive industry which showed a strong activity improvement in 2023 is expected to experience weak growth in 2024 (see Kallanish passim).
Natalia Capra France
