The Fiat Croma (above at this week's Geneva Motor Show) topped D-segment during February with 3,040 registrations. The newly-facelifted car was well clear of its nearest rivals, the BMW 3-Series (2,486) and the Mercedes C-Class (2,066). Alfa Romeo was once again hit by the closure of its key factory near Naples which produces the 147 (above, the Ducati Corse version in Geneva yesterday), 159, 159 Sportwagon and GT, and it saw just 2,938 of its cars registered, a year-on-year decline of 60.21 per cent.

The Italian new car market continued its slow start to the year last month, although the Fiat brand was able to cushion itself against the retreat to end February virtually unchanged year-on-year.

With 216,927 registrations last month, the overall market was down 3.91 per cent on February 2007, according to data released by Italian automotive trade body UNRAE. However, with 67,569 units registered last month, the Fiat Group saw its share of its home market decline by 7.88 per cent, difficult months for the Alfa Romeo and Lancia divisions countered by a robust performance from the Fiat brand. The Fiat Group thus saw its share of Italian sales contract from 32.49 per cent during February 2007 to 31.15 last month.

Splitting up the Fiat Group brands, the Fiat brand (including Fiat Professional and Abarth) was the best performer, its 55,346 units registered cushioning the division against the market drop – it ended up just 0.15 per cent down compared with February 2007. While the sales of the Grande Punto and Panda, the market’s two best-selling cars, were down year-on-year, the brand was bolstered by over eight thousand registrations of the 500 and strong demand for the recently refreshed Croma.

Meanwhile, despite a strong month for the Ypsilon (third in B-segment), Lancia endured a difficult month, and with 9,120 units shifted in February, as opposed to 10,454 during the same period a year ago, it shed 12.76 per cent. Alfa Romeo was once again hit by the closure of its key factory near Naples which produces the 147, 159, 159 Sportwagon and GT, and it saw just 2,938 of its cars registered, a year-on-year decline of 60.21 per cent.

Of the niche Fiat Group brands, Ferrari recorded 89 sales and Maserati 76, representing strong gains of 85.42 and 137.50 per cent respectively. With the market declining overall, the Fiat brand saw its share rise from 24.55 to 25.51 per cent year-on-year, with Lancia slipping from 4.63 to 4.2 per cent and Alfa Romeo dropping from 3.27 to 1.35 per cent.

After the first two months of the year, the Fiat Group has seen 141,112 vehicles registered, down 7.00 per cent on the same period last year. For the year to date, the Fiat brand is the best performer with 115,694 registrations, leaving it virtually unchanged year-on-year (-0.10 per cent).  Lancia has endured a slow start to 2008 – after two months it has notched up 18,658 sales, down 9.28 per cent, although the arrival in the showrooms of the new Delta, launched yesterday at the Geneva Motor Show, will offer the brand a timely boost to its compact range. Alfa Romeo, which sees the Pomigliano d’Arco factory reopen this week after being shut for a major upgrade since the beginning of the year, has recorded 6,404 units so far this year, down 57.67 per cent.

In A-segment, the Fiat Panda still holds sway with 14,066 registrations, although this is down on the 17,352 it recorded a year ago. This is in large part due to the success of the 500, which added another 8,093 sales to its tally. For the year to date, the Panda is on 29,795 units, while the 500 is on 18,709, while the tiny Seicento was eighth for the month and ninth overall in segment for the year to date, with 3,232 examples registered so far in 2008.

In B-segment, the Punto (including Punto and Grande Punto) racked up 16,852 sales last month to continue its unchallenged dominance of the class while Lancia’s Ypsilon was an impressive third with 6,500 registrations. For the year to date, the Punto has 36,717 sales while the Ypsilon sits fifth overall in the tally on 12,266.

The Fiat Bravo had a strong month to dominate C-segment with 5,635 registrations, over 1500 units clear of its closest rival, the Volkswagen Golf. For year-to-date, the Bravo stands on 9,900 units, 120 units clear of the second-placed Golf. Making it a clean sweep of the four mass-selling categories for Fiat was the Croma, which topped D-segment during February with 3,040 registrations. The newly-facelifted car was well clear of its nearest rivals, the BMW 3-Series (2,486) and the Mercedes C-Class (2,066). With its factory closed, the Alfa 159 managed 1,268 registrations.

In terms of the diesel car market, Fiat Group had five cars in the top 10 sellers for February, including the Punto/Grande Punto (first), Bravo (third), Croma (sixth), 500 (ninth) and Ypsilon (tenth). In terms of the total overall market for the year to date, this helps to place the Punto/Grande Punto first, Panda second, 500 fourth, Ypsilon seventh, and Bravo tenth.