In the Sassari-Gallura area, there are 867 active vehicle repair businesses, down 1.3% year on year. The figure comes from the report by the Research Office of Confartigianato Sardegna, based on 2026 data from Unioncamere-InfoCamere and published on Wednesday, October 28: the sector is feeling the effects of a slowdown in the automotive market and difficulties linked to the energy transition.
Across the island, there are 2,863 businesses engaged in the maintenance and repair of cars and motorcycles; 2,180 are artisan businesses, accounting for 76.1% of the total, a share above the national average of 74.7%. The sector employs 9,774 people. Micro, small and medium-sized businesses account for 9,453 employees, or 96.7% of total employment: a proportion that places Sardinia second in Italy, after Calabria.
The trend varies from province to province. Cagliari has 1,176 businesses and records a 2% contraction, while Nuoro has 569, of which 455 are artisan businesses, with growth of 2.5: the strongest increase nationally in the sector. Oristano has 251 businesses, 181 of them artisan businesses, and ranks fourth in Italy for the increase in artisan businesses, which rose by 2.3%.
Sardinia has 640 auto body repair businesses, up 0.3% on the previous year; 492 are artisan businesses. Oristano recorded the strongest growth, with an increase of 4.8% in total businesses and 10.7% in artisan businesses. In terms of employees, Cagliari ranks first with 3,120 workers, followed by Sassari-Gallura with 2,926. Next are Southern Sardinia (1,626), Nuoro (1,201) and Oristano (900).
One of the challenges highlighted in the report is the search for qualified staff. Sardinian businesses expect to hire 990 mechanics and repairers; digital skills are required in 41.4% of cases, and environmental skills in 54.5%. Only 16.2% of planned hires, around 160 workers, require a high level of green expertise: the lowest percentage in Italy, compared with a national average of 26.5%. Companies report difficulty finding these workers in 75% of cases.
The new car market is also a factor. In 2025, 20,230 cars were registered in Sardinia, 7.6% fewer than in 2024 and 31.2% below the 2019 level. Meanwhile, the number of electric and hybrid cars is growing: the island has 5,333 for every 100,000 vehicles on the road, compared with 1,490 in 2021, but the figure remains well below the national average of 9,608.
In the comparison between areas, Sassari has 5,544 electric and hybrid vehicles for every 100,000 cars on the road, while Cagliari has 7,716. The figures describe a sector made up largely of small businesses, facing a decline in activity, changes in the vehicle fleet and the need to find technical and environmental skills.