This report concerns the Italian market for asphalt finishers, referred to in Italian as “vibrofinitrici”, and is an update of the subject that was last covered in the European Service in June 2017.

The last four years have seen a number of changes in the market, both in terms of the number of suppliers and the size of the market. For example, Volvo has not sold a machine in the market in the past two years, and only sold six in the three years before that, meaning there are now effectively only six active suppliers, down from the seven that had become typical since Sumitomo’s appearance on the market in 2016.

In terms of the size of the market, the sales figures for the past five years reveal that the recovery started in 2014 has continued, in spite of a slight slip in 2015. From 2016 to 2018 sales stabilised between 130 and 150 units before strong growth in 2019 and 2020 saw the market exceed 200 units for the first time since 2008.

There remain only two domestic manufacturers, Bomag and Caterpillar. In 2011, Ammann, which took over the production facility of Antec-Elma, took the decision to transfer production away from its Italian facility near Bologna to Switzerland and then Germany. This move was completed in 2013, thus ending its role as a domestic producer.

The findings presented in this report are based on Off-Highway Research’s International Database and on information collected during an extensive interview programme undertaken in Spring 2021, which included all leading manufacturers, importers and distributors.