Matteo Renzi's new project has generated strong support from ordinary Italians, for whom premium cars look like a symbol of government corruption and waste
One of the most hated symbols of the Italian political class is glossy expensive government cars that officials drive comfortably while the rest of the people are struggling to survive the worst economic crisis.
However, according to the program to reduce the costs of the new Prime Minister of Italy Matteo Renzi, an extensive fleet will be significantly reduced by selling on eBay a consignment of Maserati, Lancia, Alfa Romeo and other premium cars. On the website of the online auction, the government created a separate page on EBAY, where potential buyers will be able to evaluate 151 offered cars.
At the same time, cars, many at a cost of £ 60,000 or more when purchased in the cabin, were previously acquired by the ministries of justice, defense and the interior. In addition to samples of the Italian automobile industry, BMW, Jaguars, Subaru, Audi and Citroens are up for auction.
But the "cream" went to the ministry of defense, apparently: it sells the Maserati V8 and eight Maserati M139MS.
The simple Italians liked the idea, and the rich rushed to buy used cars, despite the fact that many of them have a mileage of about 125,000 miles. Already by Friday, about 90 people showed a desire to buy an Alfa 166, and 75 people a BMW 525D. Given that auction runs until April 16, the number of potential buyers should still increase significantly.
The Renzi administration announced that the sale of cars known in Italy as blue cars, became very symbolic, as it expressed a new image of the relationship between the government and citizens. A decision to sell a car through an online auction was made to ensure maximum transparency of transactions.
It is assumed that the government will not so much earn on the sale of cars, but will save in the future on their maintenance (more precisely, “not servicing”). It is estimated that the cost of maintaining one such car, including gasoline, driver salaries, taxes and insurance, costs about 70,000 € per year. Having come to power last month, Senor Renzi vowed to put an end to the meaningless spending of officials.
Italy is in third place in the Euro-zone in terms of economy, but has been experiencing a period of stagnation for 20 years. And if many European countries are already emerging from the crisis, then the expected growth in Italian GDP this year will be only 0.6% according to forecasts of the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund.
List of auctioned cars
Ministry of the Interior
- 40 BMW 525
- 20 Lancia Thesis
- 10 Alfa 166
- 7 Alfa 156
- 1 Fiat Croma
Ministry of Justice
- 1 Jaguar S-Type R
- 1 Jaguar XF 3.0
- 1 Lancia
- 1 Subaru Impreza
- 1 Volvo S80
- 5 Audi A6
- 5 Landa Lybra
- 1 Lancia Thesis
- 1 Citroen C8
- 3 Volkswagen Phaeton
Defense Department
- 1 Maserati V8
- 8 Maserati M139MS
- 10 Lancia Thesis
- 8 BMW 525D
- 8 Alfa 166
- 14 Alfa 159
- 2 VW Passat
