In a moment of extreme heat, the July car market numbers, those processed by Dataforce, are more eloquent than any thermometer. Because they tell, with the cold precision of license plates, who we are and where we are going (or, more exactly, where we prefer not to go).
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In July, new car registrations were 123,887, almost four thousand and a half more than the same month last year. A 3.8 percent increase that sounds decent, almost reassuring. From January to July the balance is even +9 percent: over eighty-eight thousand more cars. Yet, on closer reading, it turns out that the credit is almost entirely due to private individuals. Those who pay out of their own pocket, those who still believe (or are forced to believe) that the car is an extension of home, work, family.
Short-term rental soars
Short-term rental gallops (+48 percent), perhaps because someone can still afford a vacation. Self-registrations, those that dealers keep in-house or sell as zero-km, reach a share of 15.3 percent: a nice way to flex muscles without sweating too much. Companies, on the other hand, slow down. Long-term rental too. As if the real working world had decided to pull the handbrake.
Commercial vehicles perform poorly
Then there are light commercial vehicles. Here the red is constant, month after month. In July almost eleven percentage points less. Fifteen thousand vans and similar, eighteen hundred less than last year. The funds allocated by the Government for small and medium enterprises – forty million euros – ran out in less than an hour. Less than an hour. Like flash sales on a discount site. Meanwhile, the vans that should carry goods, services, work, remain in the yards.
Trend by powertrain
But the real show, as always, is in the fuels. Pure electric vehicles, after the binge of eco-bonuses at the end of 2025, have gone back home. In July 7,605 units, half of the previous month. Market share: 6.1 percent. Salvatore Saladino, general manager of Dataforce, wonders if this is really the “physiological” level of Italian demand. A legitimate question, especially when looking at Europe, where batteries now consistently exceed 20 percent. We, instead, remain faithful to “true” hybrids: full hybrid and plug-in hybrid which together approach 30 percent. Full hybrids are bought by private individuals, those who want to feel modern without unplugging. Plug-in hybrids are taken by companies, because the tax on fringe benefits rewards them and punishes others.
Diesel falls again, by eleven percent, and seems destined to become a memory, like phone booths. LPG, on the other hand, restarts thanks to Dacia and Renault: the cars of those who cannot afford great ecological ideals but need to get to work.
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In the end, these numbers say a simple and somewhat sad thing. Italians continue to buy cars, but they do so with the caution of those who know the world is changing and prefer not to be overwhelmed by it. They prefer hybrid to the electric leap into the void. They prefer private to company. They prefer the van that does not reach the incentives that disappear in an hour.
Pietrantonio (Unrae): “Upward estimates”
“The particularly favorable trend of recent months, fueled by the long wave of registrations linked to incentives and supported by a macroeconomic framework better than the pre-event forecasts, leads us to revise upward the estimates for the entire 2026,” declares Roberto Pietrantonio, President of UNRAE. “We expect the passenger car market to close the year at 1,610,000 registrations, compared to the estimate of 1,530,000 made at the end of April, with an increase of 5.5% compared to 2025 and a recovery of over 84,000 units. Nevertheless, the comparison with 2019 will still show a deficit of 307,000 cars, equal to a contraction of 16.0%. The numbers tell us that Italians want to change cars. Now it is up to the Institutions to create stable conditions so that they can continue to do so.”
BYD keeps going, record after record
BYD continues its run on the Italian market. In July the Chinese brand registered a total of 4,501 vehicles (of which 4,466 passenger cars), capturing a 3.6% share among Passenger Cars and recording a 127% increase compared to the same month in 2025. It is the third consecutive month that BYD enters the Top 10 of the total Italian market, confirming itself among the brands with the highest growth rate. The most significant result concerns the electrified segment (NEV): BYD ranks first with a 22.1% share, thanks to a range that dominates both Plug-in Hybrids and BEVs. In the PHEV segment the brand is the absolute leader with 3,428 registrations (27.3% monthly share and 28.1% in the annual cumulative): in Italy more than one in four plug-in hybrid cars is a BYD. In BEV it reaches the podium with 1,038 units (13.6% share, +85.7%). In the first seven months of 2026, passenger car registrations rise to 33,959 (+194.5% compared to the same period in 2025), well above the market average. On the product front, the BYD ATTO 2 confirms itself as the flagship model and the best-selling Plug-in Hybrid of the month (1,487 units). The DOLPHIN SURF is the most registered 100% electric car in Italy in July, while the SEALION 7 enters the Top 10 of the BEV segment. Good start also for the new DOLPHIN G DM-i, which in the first weeks has already collected over 3,000 orders. Growth continues also in Europe. In the UK BYD closes July with 6,602 registrations (4.23% share, +107%) and in the cumulative reaches 44,397 units (+97%). In Spain monthly registrations are 3,898 (3.82%, +81%), bringing the annual total to 26,757 (+117%).
Stellantis, seventh consecutive month of growth
For the seventh month in a row Stellantis, with its brands and including Leapmotor registrations, closed July positively on the Italian car market. The increase was 3.5%, slightly lower than that of the entire national market. Excluding Leapmotor, the Group’s brands still recorded +1.1%. In the ranking of the best-selling cars of the month, the Fiat Pandina remains firmly in the lead (8,472 units). Also in the top ten are the Fiat Grande Panda (fourth), Citroën C3 (fifth) and Jeep Avenger (ninth). In the first seven months of the year, Stellantis brands marketed in Italy totaled 322,357 registrations, up 14.5% compared to 8.9% of the overall market (just over 1,060,000 units). Without Leapmotor the increase stands at 6.2%. The Group and the FIAT brand remain firmly in first place. In July FIAT registered 14,031 cars (+27%), capturing 11.4% share (+2.1 percentage points) and confirming itself as leader also in the private channel (11.1%). The Pandina Hybrid was the best-selling car overall (6.9% share), while the Grande Panda, with 2,917 registrations in July, is fourth in the annual ranking and second in the B-segment sedans (25,983 total units). Leapmotor is accelerating strongly: 1,124 registrations in July (+203%), 0.9% share. In the BEV market the brand reached 10.8% and, in the private channel, 17.6%, ranking first among all electric manufacturers. The T03 is the best-selling BEV model to private customers, while the B05 is already leader in the electric C-car segment. On the commercial vehicle front Fiat Professional leads both in July and in the seven months (27,421 units, 24.6% share). The Ducato is the best-selling van of the month (1,417 units) and celebrates 45 years of history. The brand dominates in all four segments in which it is present. Finally, in the micromobility sector, the Topolino confirms its lead among quadricycles (+7% in July) with a 40.3% share among light electric vehicles.
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