True fleet registrations in Italy continued to grow, although February brought a more subdued performance than previous months.

The Italian true fleet market had a more subdued performance.

Latest Dataforce figures show the market rose +5.1% in February, compared to 9.2% in January and marking the lowest it has been since April 2015.

February’s result compares to +7.5% growth for the total market, which finished with a little under 190,000 registrations for the month, helped not only by true fleet but by a second month of +24% growth from the Special Channels segment. The Private Market finished with the lowest growth of +2.8% but this was still a positive month and its best February since 2010.

Within the true fleet top 10 for manufacturers, only two of the top six achieved growth for the month. Fiat, the market leader, realised 14.5% growth with Ford following and generating +19.0%. However VW, BMW, Audi and Mercedes all saw a negative result. However, Toyota in seventh managed + 28.1%, Opel followed with a + 56.4%, Smart moved from 13th with + 57.7% while Nissan moved six places into 10th with growth of +72.3%.

Benjamin Kibies, Dataforce automotive analyst, commented: “The true fleet market has been climbing to ever higher volumes and in contrast to the private market, it is already considerably beyond the pre-recession value, raising doubts on how long the growth series can continue.

“With the decision to phase out 2016 tax benefits on company cars in two steps, the Government reduced distortions from anticipated purchases between the end of 2016 and the beginning of this year. Nevertheless, tailwinds for the true fleet market are weakening and some of the low-hanging fruits have already been utilised. In order to generate additional growth in a lacklustre economic environment, additional private car drivers need to be attracted into a company car.”