Number of diesel car registrations in Italy 2010-2021

The number of diesel cars registered in Italy attested an upward trend in recent years, passing from 702,700 units in 2013, to over one million units in 2017. There has however been a decline in diesel car registrations since 2017, with roughly 322,800 units registered in 2021. This represents a year-on-year drop of around 28.6 percent. Diesel remains a widespread preference in Italy for the automotive market. Diesel-electric vehicle registrations also observed a remarkable surge after 2017.

Diesel extinction?

Diesel is one of the protagonists of the debates on the future of mobility and the environment. According to a survey from 2018, one of the measures to reduce pollution could be a ban on sales and production of petrol and diesel cars from 2025/2030. Italy has further committed to having six million zero-emission veicles in circulation by 2030, powered through some 110,000 charging infrastructures.

The electric wave is coming

From 2009 to 2018, the electric car sales boomed from only 62 units as of 2009 to just under 5,000 units by the end of 2018, representing a staggering increase of over 165 percent. As of 2021, there were over 67,500 battery electric vehicles registered in Italy, up from around 10,600 units registered in 2019.