Another very impressive month of sales in Italy during June saw all three of the Fiat Group Automobiles brands up year-on-year as they each outperformed a sharply rising market, Fiat's overall share rising to a strong 31.74 percent. The new car market in Italy continued its strong recent run as 226,057 new vehicles were registered in June, up 8.03 pct on the 209,262 sold during the same month the previous year. This means that total registrations for the year to date have hit 1,416,273, putting the market for YTD up 6.53 pct year-on-year.

Against this healthy sales backdrop Fiat Group Automobiles didn't disappoint: the giant domestic carmaker saw 71,669 new registrations across its brands last month, compared to the 63,902 it achieved in June 2006, putting it 12.19 pct up year-on-year, and allowing it to outperforming the overall market rise by almost 50 pct. Splitting up the Fiat Group Automobiles portfolio up, the Fiat brand (including Fiat Professional) saw 54,510 registrations last month, driven by demand for the new C-segment Bravo; and compared to the 48,317 units it shifted during the same period of last year, this performance served to put it up an impressive 12.82 pct year-on-year. Alfa Romeo, helped by ever maturing demand for the Alfa 159 sedan, sold 7,041 cars last month compared to 6,198 in June 2006, putting it up 13.60 pct year-on-year. Lancia also outperformed the overall Italian market rise, with 10,007 sales last month, driven by interest in the facelifted Ypsilon which has been bolstered by the arrival of the Sport Momo Design, and compared to 9,243 units during the same month last year, it was up 8.27 pct year-on-year. During June the Fiat brand's share of the Italian market climbed from 23.09 to 24.11 pct year-on-year, Alfa Romeo climbed from 2.96 to 3.11 pct, while Lancia showed its usual resilience and was up fractionally from 4.42 to 4.43 pct.

After the first half of the year Fiat Group Automobiles has seen 449,118 registrations, up 10.03 pct on the first six months of 2006 when it shifted 408,120 units. Splitting the brands up, Fiat (including Fiat Professional) accounts for 343,078 units YTD, 11.24 pct up on last year's first six months total of 308,419,; Lancia has 61,625 sales YTD, up 6.73 pct year-on-year on last year's 57,740 units; while Alfa Romeo has sold 43,644 cars YTD, up 5.67 pct year-on-year. Last year the 'sporty' brand saw 41,307 unit sales. Fiat's overall share of the Italian market YTD is now at 31.71 pct, compared to 30.70 pct it achieved during the same period last year. The Fiat brand has a 24.22 pct share YTD, up from 23.20 pct last year; Alfa Romeo holds a 3.08 pct share YTD compared to 3.11 pct last year; while Lancia is fractionally up at 4.35 pct YTD compared to 4.34 pct last year.
 

The Fiat Grande Punto (including the outgoing Punto model) was Italy's best selling car as usual last month, the 21,039 units it sold during June bringing its total sales to 133,506 for YTD. The Punto was also the best selling diesel car in Italy last month with 10,391 unit sales, bringing its total oil burning sales to 64,501 units YTD. With 14,707 registrations last month the Panda was the second best seller on Fiat's domestic market (103,777 units YTD) while in fourth place with 7,108 units was the Ypsilon (40,906 units YTD). The Bravo (5,849 units) was the seventh best seller in June.

In A-segment, the Panda's 14,707 sales put it more than 10,000 units ahead of the Smart ForTwo, while in B-segment the Punto dominated with sales almost three times that of its closest rival, the Ford Fiesta. Fiat also dominated C-segment, the Bravo (5,834) topping the group ahead of the VW Golf (5,172), Ford Focus (4,282) and GM Astra (4,243), while next up in fifth place was the Alfa 147 (2,863). For the YTD the Bravo moves up to fourth place (21,137) with the Alfa 147 (19,024) just behind.

Fiat's domination of the market last month continued into D-segment where the Alfa Romeo 159 sedan (3.362) again outsold the BMW 3-series (3,102) during June. The Fiat Croma (2,061) was fourth. For YTD the Alfa 159 (19,309) tops D-segment ahead of the BMW 3-series (18,673) with the Croma fourth (12,116).

In the category for Station wagons the Croma (2,061) was second last month with the Alfa 159 Sportwagon (1,870) fourth. In the small off road segment the Fiat Sedici (1,806) was the best seller, well up on the Toyota RAV4 (1,362). In the Compact MPV category the Multipla (1,457) was fourth; in the small MPV segment the Musa (2,619) was in second spot during June, one place ahead of the Fiat Idea (2,017); while in the large MPV category the Fiat Ulysse (364) was second and the Lancia Phedra (243) fifth. Finally, in the Coupé segment the Alfa Brera (135) was seventh and in the light commercial category the Doblò (713) was the top choice, shifting more than double the units managed by the second-place Renault Kangoo.