(Finance) – The 2023 ended positively for the transport sector in Italywith a increase in new registrations for both freight and passenger transport. According to data from theContinental Observatory on the macro trends of the heavy-duty vehicle marketfreight transport over 16 tonnes recorded 22,999 new registrations, marking a 6.9% increase compared to 2022. The Lombardy has followed this positive trend with a growth of 15.8%, equal to 4,089 new vehicles. Milan, in particular, saw a 23.4% increase, reaching 1,360 new license plates, the highest value at the regional level.
The Italian market is also buses recorded significant growth, with a +45.8% and 5,434 new registrations between local, regional, national public transport and garage rental. Lombardy stood out with a 78.9% jump, thanks to 762 new license plates. Milan recorded a similar increase of 78.7%, with 470 new buses, far surpassing the other provinces of Lombardy.
Despite signs of growth, the transition towards more sustainable fuels is proceeding slowly. The freight fleet circulating in Italy in 2023 remains dominated by diesel, which covers 90.3% of vehicles, followed by petrol (4.5%) and methane (2.1%). Alternative fuels show only slight signs of growth: LPG reaches 1.5%, electric 0.4%, and hybrids stand at 0.5% (diesel) and 0.6% (petrol).
In Lombardy, Diesel recorded a slight decreasereaching 88.9%, while hybrids showed growth, reaching 1.2%. Milan saw a more marked decline in diesel (-1%), now at 85.5%, with growth in hybrids reaching 1.8%, the highest value in the region. Methane also remained stable at 3.1%, while electric grew to 0.4%.
As for the bus parkthe national situation shows a slow shift towards alternative fuels, mainly due to the transition in local public transport fleets. At a national level, the diesel still covers 91.1% of vehicles, while methane is at 6.1%, and the shares of electric and hybrid diesel together reach 2.2%.
In Lombardy, diesel dropped from 92.3% to 89.8%while electric recorded significant growth, going from 2% to 2.8%. Hybrid and methane also saw an increase, at 2.7% and 4.3% respectively. Milan stands out as the most advanced province in Lombardy in terms of bus electrification, with 5.2% of the total fleet, an increase of 1.6 percentage points compared to 2022. At the same time, diesel fell to 87.5%, while methane grew to 1.6%.