Roberto Pietrantonio (UNRAE): “Durating policies for the car”

Roberto Pietrantonio has been president of UNRAE since the beginning of June. The association represents foreign car manufacturers in Italy with 46 associates including Mazda Italia of which the Neapolitan engineer is CEO. The role of Unrae is also that of represented the automotive supply chain at the institutional tables with proposals and studies together with other federations such as Anfia and Federauto (a table is not yet scheduled at the Ministry for Companies and Made in Italy), but it is also an important center for the collection and processing of data on the automotive in the Belpaese.

Which Roberto Pietrantonio are the most urgent dossiers on the UNRAE table?
“For some time now we have solicited the need to have a long -term strategic vision for the automotive sector in Italy. Investments and interventions and extemporaneous people who have been there in recent years, sometimes uncoordinated, do not necessarily do the good of the sector. The measures Stop and Go (incentives and their announcement effect first, editor’s note) have generated uncertainty in the market. Having a strategic vision instead means, from the institutional point of view, to have coordination of the different ministries on common objectives, to plan measures that are then consistent with timely strategies “.

What can the relapses be?
“As a positive effects we expect, for example, that of the renewal of the circulating park. We know that in Italy we have reached an average age that is truly advanced, it reaches almost 13 years, and this affects both an environmental point of view and from the point of view of road safety”.

Other themes on the agenda?
“One of the examples on how to go to work effectively is the famous tax reform of support for the sector desired for a long time by URAE (concerning the taxation of cars for legal persons and companies, editor’s note). There are a whole series of parameters that have always been in Position Paper of Unrae and were also shared by other associations to have an alignment of taxation of the rest of Europe. This could also favor the renewal of the circulating park as quickly as well as giving benefits to the market. Then there is the dossier concerning the fundamental deadline of 2035 “.

What is your position on this topic?
“Our hypothesis is to be pragmatic, having a technological neutrality. This type of approach was probably ridden in a clearer way since the beginning of the discussion to give investors the opportunity to make long -term planning and then have consistency between the environmental targets and the available tools where there are many factors that are exogenous to the car world, such as the infrastructure of the charging”.

The association recently entered the weight of weight such as, for example, Byd and Omoda with Jaecoo.
“This request is evidently a sign of the times with new brands that are overlooking the European and Italian market. In particular from China and are coming with great force from the point of view of commercial competitiveness, technology and design”.

In 2024 with 1.57 million new cars sold, the Italy market closed with a drop of 0.8%, or a substantial equality. What is striking is the drop in Stellantis production in Italy 475 thousand vehicles, -36.8%. With a superficial observation it could be said that it is an opportunity for foreign manufacturers to earn market slices. Is that so?
“UNRAE is an Italian association made by Italians. Think that there is a production system in Italy is not good news. The situation then risks having repercussions also on the market that becomes less dynamic with an impoverishment of mobility for everyone. The hope is also what the government has proposed, that is to restore strength to this production system and that the square is found. This would do the good of the country and who works there”.

Can we reduce the aging of the Italian circulating park to the loss of the purchasing power of the population bands or is there other?
“The loss of purchasing power is an element. Then there was also an increase in the price of the cars that must be contextualized in the framework of inflation and in the evolution of the car product with the technologies that have been requested. Surely this has a weight but there has been an uncertainty from the point of view of the policies that supported the car in an important transition period like this. The consumer was put outside any discussion that concerned the automotive. This was also an error. Fiction on “good technologies” and “bad technologies” that has created factions, asking for further questions to consumers.

From his experience in Mazda she knows the consumer. What do you want? What does he ask? What can be afforded?
“The Mazda customer is particular, it is a niche brand. It is a sophisticated customer who loves the car product, certainly seeks quality and a distinctive design and is moved enough upwards compared to generalists. We are seeing the product of the long -term private rental in a significant way that, in our case, year on year, is doubled. This is significant of a customer who wants to experiment with other forms of mobility”.

Let’s go back to talking about consumers in general. Until Covid it seemed that the millennials were the generation which, largely, gave up the property. Is this still the case or was there a change of attitude to consumption?
“From the mass abandonment of the car that could be paid for a few years ago, after Covid there are many Italians who declare that they do not want to give up the car owned or exclusive use. In young people the car has a different charm, it has taken a different meaning than what could have been in the past. The millennials are pragmatic that are used to making online purchases, use solutions of pay for use. It is changing the type of car to which these young people aspire, it is easier for them to intact in the individual style of life of each. There is a greater choice from the point of view of digital services, of the apps. The technologies made the car an ecosystem on wheels where there are also information and entertainment. It is essential that manufacturers intercept these trends to offer innovative mobility solutions “.