Italy New Car Sales Expected to Increase in 2013

According to Centro Studi Promotor GL new car sales in Italy might increase 10.7% to 1.55 million vehicles in 2013.

After years of dramatic declining sales the spring elections might revive consumers and financial markets’ confidence in Italy and increase new car sales with 10.7% to 1.55 million vehicles. For this year Centro Studi Promotor GL said that sales will most likely reach 1.4 million units, 18% less than the 1.7 million vehicles registered last year.

The European debt crisis made Fiat’s sales collapse, discouraging customers from buying new cars and affecting consumer confidence. The higher taxes on fuel also contributed to the drop in demand. Since Europe account for half of its global sales, Fiat was forced to revise its operations on the continent, focusing on exporting vehicles from its premium brands to the U.S. and cut costs to avoid closing another facility in Italy.

Italy’s figures for November are not expected to be too good, if we are to take into consideration France’s figures which were published on December 3rd. Sales in France have dropped 19% in November and analysts said that this will be the worst year since 1997.