Fiat's share of the Italian market climbed to above 30 percent last month, driven firmly upwards as the exciting new Grande Punto model begins to be delivered to customers in greater numbers. It was a very strong performance for Fiat coming after a year spent awaiting the showroom arrival of the vital new compact car, as well as the Alfa Romeo 159, while the new Fiat Croma continues to run ahead of targets. The upward trend had kicked off in earnest during October when Fiat Auto took a 28.06 pct slice of its key domestic market (up from 27.6 pct in October 2004). November saw their share climb further, to 30.1 pct, well ahead of the 27.48 pct performance the Italian carmaker had turned in during Nov 2004. Fiat Auto registered 53,420 new vehicles in November, reports Italian transport body UNRAE (compared to 47,388 in Nov 2004), a 12.73 pct rise year-on-year.

The Fiat brand name was easily the big winner last month, a 24.05 pct rise year-on-year easily covering falls from Alfa Romeo, Lancia and Maserati. 40,474 (22.8 pct market share) new Fiat cars and light commercial vehicles were sold last month, compared to 32,626 (18.95 pct) in Nov 2004. Alfa Romeo suffered another poor month as they wait for the new Alfa 159 sedan (and the Brera sportscar which arrives on the market later this month) to turnaround their position. 4,828 new Alfa Romeo's (a 2.72 pct market share) were sold last month in Italy, as opposed to 6,618 in Nov 2004 (3.84 pct).

Lancia sold 8,043 new cars last month, virtually unchanged from 8,070 in Nov 2004 (-0.33 pct), to give them 4.53 pct of the new car market (down fractionally from 4.69 pct in Nov 2004). With the arrival of the Ypsilon MomoDesign range in the showrooms along with a higher specification Platino model, and the 'bi-colore' finish being rolled out across the Musa range, Fiat's refined 'luxury' brand continues to broaden its market appeal ahead of the arrival its centenary year in 2006, which will see it market its own take on the Fiat Sedici 'crossover', before the arrival of an all-new Delta and facelifted Ypsilon, the following year.
 

Of the specialist brands, Ferrari sold 30 cars last month, up from 13 in Nov 2004 (and 130.77 pct rise) while Maserati contracted slightly selling 40 cars (as opposed to 54 in Nov 2004), a 25.93 pct fall.

During the year to date (Jan-Nov) Fiat have sold 584,804 vehicles, last month helping greatly to narrow the gap to Jan-Nov 2004 when 595,766 cars were sold, a difference of just -1.84 pct. Of the total to date this year, Fiat branded vehicles account for 431,876 (as opposed to 434,154 year-on-year, a fall of just 0.52 pct), Alfa Romeo have sold 57,741 (71,921 year-on-year, a decline of 19.72 pct) while Lancia are up 5.96 pct after selling 93,853 cars this year (88,577 in Jan-Nov 2004). Other winners in Italy last month included Honda (up 34.93 pct), Landrover (+33.56), Audi (+28.43 pct) and Mitsubishi (+27.95).

The Fiat Punto continues to be the best seller in Italy, last month it led the way with 18,147 sold, well ahead of the Panda in second place (10,627), while the Ypsilon in third (5,836) was just ahead of the Ford Fiesta and Focus, with the VW Golf, Toyota Yaris, Opel Astra, Citroen C3 and Renault Megane completing the top ten. For the year to date (Jan-Nov) the Punto is in a comfortable first place (161,386 new registrations), the Panda is second (121,598) and the Ypsilon fifth (60,310). The Punto was also Italy's best selling diesel car last month (9,501 new Puntos hitting the roads being oil burners), while the Ypsilon was in eighth (2,452) and the Alfa Romeo 147 ninth (2,341).