Smart car sales in Italy 2012-2020

The Italian sales of Smart cars fluctuated significantly decreased over the period under consideration, from 21,476 units sold in 2012 to peaking at 35,278 units in 2019. Following this peak, Smart recorded its lowest sales figures in a decade in 2020, with only 4,574 units sold in total. According to the global comparison outlook, Italy was the second most important market for Smart cars in 2019. Smart is a rear-engine car which is quite appreciated in urban areas due to its small dimensions.

Private vehicles as a mobility solution?

The year 2019 saw a peak in the annual volume of Italians traveling via private car, indicating that private mobility solutions are still popular – despite the ever-growing solutions offered by ride-sharing platforms. Following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, over 50 percent of Italians agreed that traffic would increase in their city, thereby adding to already existing congestion problems in larger cities.

Car sharing and carpooling on the rise

It seems that the need for mobility is increasing quite fast in Italy. In fact, both car sharing and carpooling are becoming increasingly popular in the country. At around 2,000 or 3,000 cars, larger Italian cities such as Milan and Rome boast the largest car-sharing fleets, particularly those belonging to car2go, Sharenow, and Enjoy. Moped sharing has also emerged as a popular alternative to traveling via privately owned vehicles in Italy.