News

ROME, Italy – At the end of April the Italian government allocated € 8.75 million to spur consumer purchases of bicycles. The scheme proved so popular that the money was spent in just a few weeks. Now the Ministry for the Environment has decided to add another € 10 million towards the purchase of bikes. The Ministry expects that it will lead to the sale of 120,000 bicycles.
 
As reported here last month, the government incentives are having a huge positive impact on bike sales. The incentive scheme which contributes as much as 30% (up to a maximum of € 700) of the retail price of a bicycle or e-Bike, caused sales to double in April which continued over to the first weeks of May.

Atala’s Moreno Fioravanti and Italian industry association ANCMA’s Piero Nigrelli were completely surprised by the effect the incentive scheme has on consumers. “It looks like it gives them that extra push they need to go out and buy a bike.”

The incentive program is so popular that the server at which dealers to file applications became overloaded at the beginning of May as too many dealers tried to log on. According to the Ministry for the Environment about 60,000 applications haven been approved.

That the Italian bike suppliers are welcoming the extra 10 million is beyond any doubt. 2008 bike sales were said to have dropped to about 1.7 million units. In 2007 bike sales stood at close to 2 million units, according to statistics from ANCMA.