The car has become the symbol of the impoverishment of Italians

The automobile is like a thermometer: it measures the temperature of a people's well-being, their ability to spend on a product that remains, in most cases, widely consumed. For about thirty years, from the 1950s to the 1970s, the car represented Italians' long journey toward prosperity, and was the primary status symbol of a milestone achieved, of a rural population that had become a wealthy middle-class country (some today call it "gentlemanly"). Today, this paradigm has been completely reversed. The car has also lost its status symbol appeal, as the new generations consider it as just another commodity, but it has gained the role of symbol of the impoverishment of the middle class, that is, of the majority of the population.

A survey on the mobility of Italians, created in 2026 by Bain & Company, a strategic business consultancy firm, in collaboration with Aniasa, the National Association of the Car Rental, Sharing Mobility and Digital Automotive Industry, He says that today in Italy it takes an average of 11 months' salary to buy a new car, while only in 2000 it took about 5 months' salary. More than double.

The consequence is that the car remains very important in the daily lives of Italians (76% of those interviewed said they use it regularly), but the purchase of a new vehicle is increasingly postponed: 59% of Italians say they have not considered purchasing it or have postponed it, while about one in ten has decided to give up.

On the other hand, Italian salaries have been literally worms for a quarter of a century, while in the same period the average cost of a car has risen from 15 to 36 euros, a 135 percent increase. And guess who has had the greatest impact on this dizzying increase? Sustainable cars, electric and hybrid ones, which shortsighted European manufacturers have immediately interpreted as luxury products, rather than mass-market vehicles. The result has been that the sustainable car is a status symbol, albeit one limited to a small minority of the new elite. green consumers, while others have to make do with a series of costs that only increase: petrol, maintenance, parking. Today, an average 36.000 euro car requires a much greater commitment, often managed with financing, leasing or long-term rentalAnd confirming their luxury status, among the best-selling electric cars in Italy are the various premium models of the very expensive Tesla.

Italians, under pressure from the combined effects of stagnant incomes and the rising cost of living, have shifted their consumer priorities: a portion of spending that once went to cars now goes to travel, technology, digital services, or other experiences. And the car, once a symbol of well-being, has become a testament to impoverishment.

The great electric car scamIt was supposed to be the symbol of a new mobility, sustainable mobility. Instead, it's merely the symbol of a privileged caste of "green consumers." Who created this paradox? With what objectives? And with what results? The answers in this book.