04.04.2023
In Italy there are 4.3 million historic cars, of which 388,000 are on the ACI safeguard list. The total value is 104 billion euros.
Out of 40.2 million cars on the road, 10 million are over 20 years old. 5.9 million are cars aged between 20 and 29 years, of which the ACI “Safeguard List” recognizes – for quality, technical specifications and design – only 388 thousand: 7%.
Adding the 3.9 million “over 30” cars to the 388,000 on the ACI List – cars that the legislation automatically considers historic cars – the total of cars of historic and collectible value reaches 4.3 million units. With an average value per car of 24,200 euros, the total heritage of historic cars is close to 104 billion euros (5.4% of GDP) and 57% is distributed in the regions of Northern Italy, 27% in those of the Center and 16% in the South and the Islands.
Historic cars interest and fascinate Italians more and more. 62% of enthusiasts do not even own one. The market for this type of car is expanding with positive effects on the entire supply chain, on tourism and related industries generated by maintenance, fairs, exhibitions and events attended by owners and connoisseurs, including more and more young people, on the whole Italian territory.
5.2 billion are spent a year for the maintenance of historic cars and almost 2 billion are spent annually for participation in historic motoring events and events. A sector for which national legislation is required to distinguish historic cars from simply old ones.
This is what emerges from the survey “Historical motoring in Italy. 1st Report on the world of historic cars”, produced by the Filippo Caracciolo Foundation, the ACI study centre, and presented today in the Senate. For the first time, the issue is analyzed from a regulatory, economic and social point of view, with data and calculations that outline a growing phenomenon and a market that has significant development prospects.
“For the first time – said the President of the Automobile Club of Italy, Angelo Sticchi Damiani – we have a study on historic motoring that offers an in-depth analysis of a phenomenon that involves millions of Italians, including owners and enthusiasts”.
“It is no longer a niche market – underlined the President of ACI – which is expanding with significant economic repercussions, in terms of value and induced activities, and which also increasingly fascinates the younger generations. The data presented in this Report confirms the urgency of distinguishing, at a regulatory level, historic cars from old cars, which are unsafe, highly polluting and have no historical or collectible value, also to allow municipal administrations to understand which ones to allow and which, instead, to deny access to historic centres”.
“All of this – concluded Sticchi Damiani – not only to protect the value of unique vehicles, witnesses of the evolution of human ingenuity, technology, style and design – but also to avoid the growth of worrying pockets of tax avoidance. Historic cars must be protected, old cars, on the other hand, replaced, and, for the good of the entire mobility system, their owners must be enabled to buy safer, more efficient and more environmentally friendly cars” .
There are 4.3 million cars of real historical and collectors’ interest: 43.9% of the total number of “over 20s”. Of these, only 388 thousand of the 5.9 million cars between the ages of 20 and 29 have seen their historical value recognized and are present in the Safeguard List, drawn up by the experts of ACI Storico, Stellantis Heritage, Registro Italiano Alfa Romeo (RIAR), Association of Historic Vehicle Amateurs (AAVS) and the specialized monthly Ruoteclassiche.
Among the most popular car models on the List are some versions of the Fiat Panda (about 35,000 units), the Autobianchi Y10 (just under 21,000) and the Fiat Punto (about 13,700). However, there are also rarer models on the List. For about 400, in fact, there are less than 1,000 cars, for a total of 36,000 units: about a tenth of the cars on the List.
The study shows that at a territorial level there is a correlation between the diffusion of historic cars and per capita income, where cars in the fleet over twenty years old are widespread above all in the southern regions, while cars of greater historical value and economic value are concentrated almost exclusively in the northern areas of the country.