The Fiat Auto Light Commercial Vehicle Division had another very strong month of demand in Italy during April, taking over half of all sales in a rising market, with Fiat's Iveco division the next strongest segment player.

The total Italian market for light commercial vehicles measured on a basis of up to 3.5-tons, rose by 9.3 pct year-on-year from 19,580 units in April 2005 to 21,395 last month, according to detailed figures released by automotive trade association ANFIA. Fiat Auto LCV was the biggest winner with its sales climbing 26.2 pct year-on-year from 8,600 to 10,849. This added up to a dominant 50.7 pct share of the Italian LCV market last month, up from 43.9 pct in April 2005.

With the new Doblò Cargo range proving a popular choice with Italian buyers and a new generation of Ducato van (codename X25) due in the showrooms within months the outlook for Fiat's LCV division looks very promising indeed. The Fiat Group's Iveco division completed the rosy picture by reversing its sales slide earlier this year to climb by 18.1 pct after it sold 1,881 vehicles last month, as opposed to the 1,593 it sold in April 2005.
 

Of the other national brands Piaggio's light commercial range was up 16.9 pct to 533 vehicles last month (456 in April 2005,) increasing its market share from 2.3 pct to 2.5 pct. Amongst the leading foreign commercial brands Renault was up 3.4 pct (1,449 units in April 2006,) Ford was down 21.3 pct (1,415) and Nissan climbed 11.3 pct (1,021.)

For the first fourth months of the year the Italian LCV market is up by 5.0 pct with 76,816 vehicles sold in 2006 compared to 73,168 last year. With 34,177 vehicles (29,710 in Jan-Apr 2005) sold Fiat Auto hold a 44.5 pct share of the total market so far this year, up by 15 pct year on year. Iveco meanwhile are down 6.8 pct year-on-year with 5,880 deliveries so far this year as opposed to 6,309 in the equivalent period last year. Their market share has slipped to 7.7 pct from 8.6 pct.