2024 was another difficult year for the car market in Italy. Among the brands that we can define as “winners”, it stands out Daciawhich with an increase of 13.67% consolidated its presence on the Italian market thanks to competitive models in terms of quality-price ratio. Also Toyota (+24,55%) e Lexus (+61.80%) stood out, driven by the growing demand for hybrid vehicles.
Very interesting, then, is the rise of some Chinese brandscome MG (+32,01%) e BYDwhich managed to deliver 2,771 cars in just one year. Mitsubishi it is the only one to have achieved triple-digit growth (+211.49%), together with Lotus (+159.85%), but it must be underlined that we are talking about 3,252 and 356 units respectively.
E Italian brands? Fiat maintained its lead at a national level and remained behind Volkswagenbut despite the high volumes both brands are down (they lost 17.6% and 1.25% respectively).
Stellantis and Italian car brands
In 2024, 143,867 Fiats were registered (-17,60%), a number decreasing compared to the 174,587 in 2023, due to the reduced competitiveness of some models. Also Lancia (-28,32%) and Alfa Romeo (-14,59%) have declined, reflecting the challenge of adapting to a rapidly evolving market.
Speaking of Lancia it is good to remember that 2024 was a very important year. After the launch of the new Ypsilon, there was the relaunch of the brand through the new corporate identity and the house has also returned to selling in other countries, including France and Spain. Now the new Gamma and Delta are arriving, so it will be interesting to follow their progress during 2025.
New Lancia Gamma, the rendering of Motor1
Between the luxury brands Italians, however, Maserati saw a contraction in sales (-41.66%) and Ferrari did well: 755 supercars delivered compared to 654 last year (+15.4%).
In general the Stellantis Group it closed the year with 454,013 cars sold (-10.1%). Within it, DS also fell (-22.7%), as did Jeep (-4.2%), Opel (-0.2%) and Peugeot (-2.1%); Citroen did well (+7.2%), with the Citroen C3 ranking first in the Top Ten best-selling petrol cars.
| Position | Units registered 2024 | Cousin. % scroll 2023 | |
| 1 | Stellantis Group | 454.013 | -10,19% |
| 2 | Volkswagen Group | 256.044 | +0,42% |
| 3 | Renault Group | 184.422 | +10,75% |
| 4 | Toyota Group | 129.036 | +25,91% |
| 5 | Group BMW | 83.352 | +5,13% |
| 6 | Ford | 68.710 | -15,94% |
| 7 | Daimler Group | 55.302 | -3,6% |
| 8 | Hyundai | 49.469 | +1,18% |
| 9 | Come on | 47.787 | +1,94% |
| 10 | MG | 39.951 | +32,01% |
| 11 | Suzuki | 37.684 | +8,3% |
| 12 | Nissan Group | 34.947 | -7,63% |
| 13 | DR Group | 26.211 | -19,73% |
| 14 | Volvo | 19.243 | +13,63% |
| 15 | Tesla | 15.650 | -5,91% |
| 16 | Mazda | 14.217 | -6,03% |
| 17 | Group Jaguar Land Rover | 10.256 | -15,11% |
| 18 | Porsche | 8.211 | +6,47% |
| 19 | Honda | 7.449 | +7,27% |
| 20 | Mitsubishi | 3.252 | +211,49% |
| 21 | BYD | 2.771 | – |
| 22 | Omoda & Jaecoo | 2.495 | – |
| 23 | Subaru | 1.661 | -37,01% |
| 24 | EMC | 1.310 | +50,23% |
| 25 | Lync&Co | 982 | -72,81% |
| 26 | Ferrari | 755 | +15,44% |
| 27 | SSangyong | 465 | +43,52% |
| 28 | Lotus | 356 | +159,85% |
| 29 | Polestar | 316 | -62,29% |
| 30 | Mahindra | 223 | -66,06% |
| 31 | Aston Martin | 97 | -3,96% |
The case of the German manufacturers
In 2024, German manufacturers showed mixed results. Volkswagen, despite its positioning as one of the main groups in Italy, recorded a slight decline of -1.25%, a sign of stability compared to other brands in difficulty. Among its most popular models, the T-Roc and the T-Cross continue to achieve good sales results, but historical models such as the Golf (-3.5%) and the Polo (-3.1%) are in slight decline decline.
Audi also maintained a solid position (+1.31%) thanks to performance in an SUV like Q3. BMW, on the other hand, recorded significant growth in annual sales (+17.37%), driven by models such as the X1. Mercedes remained almost stable (+0.85%), with decent demand for the GLA.
Chinese competition
The 2024 results confirm that traditional manufacturers have to deal with growing competition from Asian brands and that the need to accelerate the transition towards electric models; in this regard we highlight the decline of Tesla (-5.91%).
MGwhich rose by 32 percentage points, came to occupy, with the ZS, the 14th position in the absolute ranking of the best-selling cars in 2024 (the previous year it was 22nd).
closed 2024 with record results globally (4.25 million cars sold, +41%) and in Italy it reached over 3,200 contracts, of which more than 1,500 in the month of December alone. This trend in constant growth allowed it to register 2,886 units during the year, rapidly climbing market shares: 0.6% in December, after an average of 0.09% in the first nine months. It will therefore be important to follow its progress in 2025, the year of the Sealion 7 and other BYD innovations.
Omoda and Jaecoo are also growing quickly, with 2,495 cars registered, they are ready to launch other new products.
Italians’ favorite car brands in 2024
| Position | Units registered 2024 | Cousin. % scroll 2023 | |
| 1 | Fiat | 143.867 | -17,6% |
| 2 | Toyota | 122.946 | +24,55% |
| 3 | Volkswagen | 121.288 | -1,25% |
| 4 | Dacia | 97.263 | +13,67% |
| 5 | Renault | 87.159 | +7,67% |
| 6 | Peugeot | 78.164 | -2,1% |
| 7 | BMW | 71.045 | +17,37% |
| 8 | Ford | 68.710 | -15,94% |
| 9 | Jeep | 68.442 | -4,21% |
| 10 | Audi | 67.812 | +1,31% |
