Italian new car registrations dropped by 2.26% last month, although Fiat Auto once again outperformed the overall market with the Fiat brand up 11.53%, Alfa Romeo up 26.78% and Lancia up 11.69%. This all added up to giving Fiat Auto a 31.67% share of the Italian market, well above the psychological 30% target threshold, and well above last year’s share of 26.42%.

August is customarily a quiet sales month, as Italians embark on the traditional month’s holiday period.  Thus total registrations last month were 95,918, down slightly from 98,133 in August 2005. Over the first eight months of this year, registrations were up 4.78% to 1,613,705 (as opposed to 1,540,032 during Jan-Aug 2005). Fiat Auto again performed positively as many of the major imported brands suffered, with Nissan (- 28.41%), VW (- 25.21%), Renault (- 25.16%), Peugeot (- 13.99%), SEAT (- 13.22%), Opel (- 12.03%) and BMW (- 11.48%) amongst those hardest-hit. Aside from Fiat Auto, other winners last month included Toyota (+ 28.93%), Suzuki (+ 26.16%), Ford (+ 21.60%) and Mini (+ 11.27%).

During August, the Fiat brand (including Light Commercial Vehicles) saw 22,786 units shifted to give them a 23.73% share of the total market, up 11.53% year-on-year when 20,431 units sold in August 2006 equated to a 20.82% share. Alfa Romeo was the best Auto division performer year-on-year, up 26.78%.  3,020 new cars registered during August gave them a 3.15% share of their home market, up from 2.43% (2,382 units) during August 2005. Lancia reversed a slowing trend in recent months to climb 11.69% year-on-year, 4,568 units sold last month giving them a 4.76% market share, as opposed to 4,090 units in August 2006 which equated to a 4.17% share.
 

Of the specialist Italian brands, Ferrari – with 19 of their sportscars delivered – was unchanged year-on-year; Maserati, with 25 registrations, was up 66.67%; whilst the Audi-owned Lamborghini brand shifted 2 units, down 80% year-on-year.

Over the first eight months of the year, Fiat has now sold 375,290 units (a 23.26% share of the total market) – an improvement of 20.31% on Jan-Aug 2005, when 311,944 units were sold.  Alfa Romeo has shifted 50,298 units so far this year (43,335 units Jan-Aug 2005), up 16.07% year-on-year, while Lancia has sold 70,194 vehicles this year, treading water in a rising market to be up 0.19% year-on-year (70,058 units Jan-Aug 2005). In the top end of the market, Ferrari have sold 450 cars so far this year, while Maserati have sold 409. Lamborghini are on 94 units.

As usual, the Fiat Punto (figures include the old Punto and Grande Punto) was the best-selling model in Italy during August with 10,206 sales. The Fiat Panda was second with 6,035, while Lancia’s Ypsilon was fourth with 3,440 units sold. For the year to date, the Punto (both versions) account for 164,367 units with the Panda second on 99,578. The Ypsilon is fifth with 47,073 sold. The Punto was also Italy’s best-selling diesel in August, with 5,962 sold to put it at the top of the diesel sales list for the year to date (86,838 units Jan-Aug 2006).