Fiat turned in another strong month of sales in Italy during March, its registrations climbing at almost three times the rate of the total market, which itself was in positive territory. With 82,348 new cars and light commercial vehicles being registered by the Fiat Group during March, compared to 77,223 during the same period last year, Italy's big domestic carmaker was up by 6.66 percent year-on-year. And with 258,873 new vehicles being registered in total last month across Italy, the market stayed in positive territory for the year, and was up by 2.36 pct year-on-year.

All three of the major Fiat Group Automobiles portfolio brands were up year-on-year during March. The Fiat brand (including Light Commercial Vehicles), bolstered by the arrival of the new C-segment Bravo to strengthen the market's top two selling models, the Grande Punto and Panda, was up 7.58 pct year-on-year as 62,323 new vehicles hit the Italian roads last month compared to 57,934 units during the same period last year.  With 11,713 sales last month as opposed to 11,100 in March 2006, Lancia is up 5.52 percent year-on-year; while Alfa Romeo, with 8,197 sales compared to 8,090 the previous year, was up 1.32 pct. This means that the Fiat brand raises its Italian market share from 22.91 to 24.07 pct, Lancia is up from 4.39 to 4.52 pct, while Alfa Romeo's small rise in registrations underperformed the overall market and it lost some share, slipping from 3.20 to 3.17 pct.

For the year-to-date the Fiat Group has registered 232,985 new vehicles on the Italian market, putting it up 8.11 pct year-on-year for the first three months, allowing it to comfortably outperform the overall market which climbed by 4.14 pct during the same period. This means Fiat's share of its home market for the first quarter of the year stands at 31.88 pct, compared to the 30.71 pct it held during the first three months of 2006. With 177,782 registrations for the year-to-date compared to 163,506 during the same period last year the Fiat brand is up 8.73 pct. Lancia has sold 32,256 vehicles this year and is up 4.65 pct year-on-year, while Alfa Romeo has registered 23,308 cars and is up a healthy 8.31 pct compared to the first three months of last year. The Fiat brand's market share stands at 24.25 pct for the first three months of the year, up from 23.22 pct during the first quarter of 2006 while Lancia's share stands at 4.40 pct and Alfa Romeo's 3.18 pct.
 

The Fiat Punto (including the Grande Punto and outgoing Punto versions) continued to hold its position as Italy's best selling car with 24,924 unit sales in March, well ahead of the second placed Panda (20,956) while the Lancia Ypsilon was in sixth place (6,925). For the year-to-date the Punto has 71,996 sales with the Panda second (55,988) and the Ypsilon sixth (20,735). The Punto was also Italy's best-selling diesel last month (11,917) with the Panda fourth (4,532), the Lancia Musa sixth (3,550) and the Alfa 159 a place behind (3,465). After the first three months of 2007, the Punto leads the diesel segment in Italy with 34,599 units registered.

With 20,593 sales last month the Panda dominated A-segment in Italy, far ahead of the Seicento in second (3,085) while with 24,924 sales last month the Punto dominated B-segment, selling more than double of its closest rival, the Ford Fiesta (11,085). In C-segment the Bravo is starting to make its mark with 2,179 sales last month, putting it in ninth place, one behind the Fiat Multipla (2,297). Alfa Romeo's 159 sedan topped D-segment (3,764) putting it ahead of the BMW 3-series (3,692) while the Fiat Croma was in fourth (2,194). After three months of the year the Alfa 159 has sold 9,491 units, putting it well within reach of the BMW 3-series (9,976).

In the category for off-road vehicles the Fiat Sedici (1,747) was in second place behind Toyota's RAV4 (2,149). The Lancia Musa topped the 'small monovolume' segment with 4,552 sales, ahead of the Opel Meriva (3,174) and its sister model, the Fiat Idea (2,511). In the 'large monovolume' category the Fiat Ulysse (343) was in third last month one place in front of the Lancia Phedra (180).

In the Coupé segment of the Italian market the Alfa GT was third (362) last month with the Alfa Brera in eighth (152), while the Alfa Spider (175) was eighth in the cabriolet sector. Finally the Doblò continued to dominate its LCV market segment with 1,115 registrations, more than double that which was achieved by its closest rival, the Renault Kangoo (408).