Last month European-wide new car registrations slipped once again, although Fiat's contribution to the total was rendered somewhat academic due to a month long car transporter drivers' strike in Italy.

Fiat Auto's combined market share stood at 5.5 pct last month (down from 7.3 pct in May 2004 although the strike by the car transporter drivers' which backed up vehicle deliveries, forcing Fiat to lay off workers at several facilities and temporarily shut down the Melfi plant, meant that cars could not be delivered to the dealers and storage space ran out in a number of locations. The strike, which had started on 26th April, left domestic demand down a massive 27.9 pct by the end of last month.

Fiat and Alfa Romeo's sales were also partially knocked as customers awaited the arrival of several new models, including the Fiat Croma 'stationwagon' which hit the showrooms this month, and the Alfa 159 which in fact had its official press launch this week and will, along with the next-generation best-selling Fiat Punto, debut in the European showrooms during September. Another important model, the high-performance, stunning Alfa Romeo Brera sportscar will begin customer deliveries towards the end of the year.

Demand for Lancia models continued to accelerate and both the Ypsilon and Musa had a successful month across Europe, and despite the knock-on effects of the strike, Lancia gave up the least ground of the three Fiat Auto brands, down 14.3 pct year on year (7,930 new Lancias were registered last month as opposed to 9,258 in May 2004).
 

For the record, although the statistics are largely irrelevant, Fiat Auto as a whole saw 67,974 new cars registered last month (as opposed to 91,220 in may 2004, a drop of 25.5 pct) which equated to a 5.6 pct share of the whole market, comprising of the 15 EU member states plus the EFTA countries. 49,809 Fiat branded vehicles hit the road, a 4.1 pct markets share, Alfa Romeo registered 9,707 cars (0.8 pct of the market), while Lancia's total gave them an 0.6 pct share.

Six Fiat Auto models featured in the top ten best sellers of their category, with the award-winning Panda topping the A-segment once again. Also in favour with buyers were the Seicento, Punto, Idea, Doblo, and from Lancia the Musa 'mini-mpv'.

There was a success story to report from France where Fiat Auto sales bounced up by 16.6 pct to give the Italian carmaker a 3 pct market share (up from 2.8 pct in May 2004). Fiat branded vehicle registrations rose 13.7 pct, Alfa Romeo by 2.1 pct, while Lancia continued its astonishing sales recovery by climbing 153.3 pct.

Across Europe sales fell by 1.1 pct year-on-year, led down by Italy where the effects of the car transporter drivers strike knocked the market down by 28 pct, with 1.23 million cars registered last month. Sales for the first five month now total 6.34 million vehicles (down 1.3 pct of May 2004).