The Fiat 500 (seen above, riding the Berlin underground this month as part of a new marketing initiative) was Europe's most talked about new car last year, and usefully added to the overall sales mix following its 4th July launch. The Fiat brand had an impressive 2007 boosted by the arrival of the 500 and Bravo models to bolster continuing demand for the Grande Punto (seen above, at the Autosport International show in Birmingham last weekend). Photo: Roland Ellison.

The Fiat Group saw 1,249,092 of its vehicles registered in Europe during 2007, up 7.1% on the year before, and making it Europe's best performing car manufacturer. The result was even more impressive considering that the total European new vehicle market was virtually flat (+1.1%) last year. The data which covers all the EU member nations plus the EFTA signatories, was released by European automotive trade body ACEA this morning.

Fiat put all its major rivals in the shade when it came to year-on-year performance during 2007, and only BMW came close, the German firm was up 6.7%, thanks to strong demand for the MINI range, after selling 848,080 vehicles. Europe's biggest carmaker, VW/Audi Group, lost ground (-1.1%) while second placed PSA Peugeot-Citroën (+0.6%) and third placed Ford (+1.7%) both recorded very minimal year-on-year gains. GM next up was slightly better off (+1.6%) while fifth placed Renault continued its downward spiral (-4.4%). One place below Fiat was Toyota who gained 2.5%.

Nearly 16 million new cars were registered in Europe (EU27+EFTA) in 2007, or 1.1% more than the year before. Soaring oil prices, changes in taxes, shrinking credit availability and purchasing power restrained buyers’ confidence and the demand for new cars in some of the Western European countries (+0.2%). In the new EU member states, where car density is still much lower and many households have been able to afford buying a new car only recently, a steady growth was recorded throughout the year (+14.5%).

Western European 2007 figures were to a great extent pulled down by expected slowdown on the German market (-9.2%). Due to late 2006 rush in purchases ahead of January 2007 VAT increase, 320,000 new cars less were registered in 2007. Also in Spain, where scrapping incentives (Prever Plan) were extended until the end of 2007, demand for new cars further declined (-1.2%). Government incentives and promotional campaigns had a positive effect on the Italian market, where more than 160,000 new cars were sold as compared with 2006 (+7.1%). New registrations in the UK (+2.5%) were mostly driven by private demand, especially for diesel and small cars. The French market also performed better than in 2006 (+3.2%). Seven new member states posted two-digit yearly growths and only Hungary remained on a downturn trend (-7.8%) in 2007.

In December 2007, four out of five main EU markets posted growths. The calendar effect was limited since the number of working days varied widely in Europe (Italy, Spain, Romania +1, Germany –2, Bulgaria, Czech Rep., Denmark, Estonia, Slovakia, Sweden –1 or more). On the one hand, Germany recorded a significant loss (-20.3%) as compared with December 2006, when registrations increased by 18% before the sales tax increase took effect in the following month. On the other hand, a new bonus-malus system (car registration tax linked to CO2 emissions) coming into force in January 2008 boosted French registrations at the end of 2007 (+21.1%). Also Italy (+14.1%), Spain (+6.3%) and the UK (+3.1%) ended the year on an upturn path. The majority of the new EU member States positively contributed to the overall result (+11.6%).

During December Fiat Group wrapped up the year in style, with 82,393 new registrations, up 9.0% on the 75,565 units it shifted during the final month of 2006. This raised its overall European market share from 6.8 to 7.3%. Splitting up the Group's brands, Fiat (including Fiat Professional) turned in the best performance: 65,820 units registered during December putting it up a comfortable 13.6 pct year-on-year, and raising its overall market share from 5.2 to 5.9%. The specialist brands didn't fare so well last month: Lancia (6,758) was down 3.0%, while Alfa Romeo (9,394) lost 9.0%. This saw Lancia holding its share of the European new car market steady at 0.6%, while Alfa Romeo slipped from 0.9 to 0.8%.

For the full year, Fiat Group saw 1,249,092 new registrations, up 7.1% on 2006's total of 1,166,067 units; the best year-on-year performance amongst the major European car making groups. This all adds up to Fiat's market share climbing from 7.4 to 7.8%. The Fiat brand (including Fiat Professional) was the big winner, aided by the arrival of the 500 and Bravo to bolster the Grande Punto's continuing demand. The Fiat brand saw 976,981 registrations during 2007, up 8.8% year-on-year; while its market share rose from 5.7 to 6.1%. Alfa Romeo (144,422, -0.8%) was virtually unchanged on its 2006 performance while Lancia (122,054, +4.8%) recorded a pleasing gain. Alfa Romeo's European market share remained stable at 0.9%, but Lancia was up from 0.7% in 2006 to 0.8% last year.