With a new-generation of Ducato van range, codenamed X250, just around the corner, last month saw Fiat Veicoli Commerciali turn in its best sales performance in Italy since the end of 2002. Fiat Auto's commercial vehicle division has been the star performer in their portfolio of brands in recent years, and last month was the same story with 9,684 new vehicle sales, 27.1 percent up on March 2005 when the division sold 7,619 units.

This sterling performance gave Fiat LCV a 44.8 pct of their domestic commercial vehicle market last month, and with a total of 23,338 sales from January 2006 up to the end of March they have recorded a 42.1 pct share of the market for the first quarter of 2006 and a healthy 10.5 pct year-on-year increase.

The Italian commercial vehicle market in fact grew during March: 21,637 units equating to an 8.3 pct rise compared to March 2005 when 19,974 commercial vehicles were sold. The whole commercial vehicle market in Italy had started the year by slipping 2.1 pct in January, before climbing 2.8 pct in February. A combined total of 55,415 new commercial vehicles have been sold now in Italy this year, up by 3.4 pct on the first three months of 2005 when 53,588 units were shifted.
 

Leading the Fiat Veicoli Commerciali division's drive for sales last month were the Panda Van and the new Doblò Cargo range, the latter which last autumn claimed the 'Van of the Year 2006' title on its debut. Around 3,000 Panda vans were sold during March, while the newly facelifted Doblò Cargo, with 2,200 sales, was up by no less than 33 pct on March 2005.

Of the other national brands, Fiat's Iveco division saw sales slide 22.9 pct during March, with 1,447 unit sales as opposed to 1,877 in March 2005. This equated to a 6.7 pct overall market share for last month. Totalled for the year Iveco have shifted 3,999 light commercial vans, trucks and buses, down 15.1 pct on the first quarter of 2005 when they sold 4,617 units. Meanwhile Piaggio saw their sales climb 22.2 pct last month, 452 units (370 in March 2005) sales giving them a 2.1 share of the Italian market.