Imagine a platform capable of "seeing" in real-time every used car advertisement published in Italy and Europe — thousands of sources, millions of vehicles, updated day by day. This is what AutoUncle does, a European aggregator specializing in automotive market analysis, offering consumers and industry operators a transparent and updated view of prices and trends. It is a privileged observation tool that occasionally highlights signals worth paying attention to. The data from June 2026 reveals two quite interesting insights.

Used Hybrids Declining: The Trend has Reversed

For months, hybrid cars had represented the dominant trend in the Italian used car market. A compromise choice — one foot in the thermal world, one in the electric — that convinced many drivers, especially those uncomfortable with making a direct jump to full electric. But something has changed.

According to AutoUncle data updated to June 17, 2026, the used hybrids for sale in Italy are now 95,203, nearly 7,300 fewer than twelve months ago (−7.1%), and almost 14,000 less than the peak reached in September 2025 when there were 109,169. This trend reversed in the spring of this year after a winter of abundant supply, above 105,000 units.

They still represent about one in eight of the available used cars in Italy — 12.1% of the total — but the trend's direction is clear. It is worth understanding why, even if AutoUncle is cautious in attributing a single cause: the decrease in supply could reflect either less hybrid entry into the used market or a demand that absorbs them more quickly than before. In both cases, the signal is the same: hybrids are moving.

Diesel Still King, Electric at a Low

To complete the picture, it is worth looking at the entire stock of used cars in Italy. The total number of active ads is relatively stable (−0.9% year on year, 784,277 units), but the internal composition tells a precise story:

Source: AutoUncle

The most striking figure is that of pure electric cars: −25.9% in one year, with only 2% market share in the used sector. Diesel, on the other hand, is increasing. Almost half of the used cars for sale in Italy still have a diesel engine. Not exactly a snapshot of a country in the midst of an energy transition. However, caution is advised: this could also mean that this type of engine is growing in the used market because nobody wants to buy it, worried about its fate in the coming years.

Italy Last in Europe on Electric: A Delay that Becomes a Climate Risk

If the used car market is a faithful reflection of actual driving habits — and it is, because most Italians buy second-hand cars, not new ones — then the picture emerging from AutoUncle's second report is even more concerning.

In 2025, battery electric vehicles accounted for only about 6% of new registrations in Italy, compared to a European average of 17.4%. Worse: on dealer used cars, only 2.8% of vehicles sold in 2026 are BEV, compared to 15.1% in the Netherlands and 10.9% in Germany. In the Netherlands, one in seven used cars is electric. In Italy, less than one in thirty.

Source: AutoUncle

It is not just a commercial gap. It is a climate issue that is becoming increasingly concrete. Road transport generates over 90% of Italian mobility emissions, and those emissions today are higher than in 1990, despite progress made in almost all other sectors. The National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC) aims for 4.3 million battery electric cars by 2030. By the end of 2024, approximately 280,000 were on the road. The gap to bridge is vast.

The Problem is Not Price. It’s Trust

There is an apparently paradoxical figure in the AutoUncle numbers: Italy has the cheapest used electric cars among the five major European markets analyzed, with an average price of under 16,000 euros. Yet they remain unsold at dealerships for an average of 76 days, compared to 55 days for a comparable combustion car. Price alone isn’t enough.

The reason is structural: many of the available electric models in the used market are large and expensive SUVs, while Italian drivers tend to think in terms of practical and economical small cars. Trust in the charging network is still lacking. The geographic distribution of electric cars is concentrated in the north, posing a concrete risk of a two-speed transition. Moreover, incentive policies have historically been inconsistent: when bonuses are available, demand responds; when they expire, the market freezes.

What Germany Teaches

Germany, in comparison, offers an interesting lesson. Since January 2026, it introduced a structural package — a ten-year exemption from road tax for BEVs registered between 2026 and 2030, income-based purchase subsidies up to 6,000 euros, accelerated depreciation of 40% for company electric cars. It is not just the amount of support that makes a difference; it’s its predictability. The result? The share of electric cars in the German used market rose from 6.7% to 10.9% in just one year, with electric used volumes increasing by about two-thirds.

For Italy, the lesson is clear: intermittent incentives do not build markets; they create peaks and crashes. A long-term vision is needed, one that provides certainty to buyers, dealers, and the industry. The window to catch up still exists, but it is rapidly narrowing.