italiaspeed.com

Despite slightly underperforming a rising market across Europe last month, Fiat Group still posted a pleasing performance, rising 8.5 per cent, with the main Fiat brand posting a 12.1 per cent rise.

In April, most European countries benefited from two to three additional working days, which helped the majority of markets post a growth in new car registrations despite the U.S. financial crisis and further increases in fuel prices. Passenger car demand in the EU27+EFTA rose by 9.6 per cent compared with last year. In total, 1,420,944 vehicles were registered over the month. Expressed in cumulative figures, European markets were stable from January to April.

Registrations in Western Europe were up 9.5 per cent in April and stable over the first four months of the year. With 198,558 units, France recorded 15 per cent higher registrations thanks to two more business days. Adjusted for working days, the rise was 4.6 per cent, in line with the 4.8 per cent growth observed from January to April compared with the same period last year. The German market is recovering from a weak performance in 2007, posting a 20 per cent increase compared to the same month last year. The registration of 317,960 new cars was supported by an improving labour market and a recovering consumer confidence. In the first four months of the year, new registrations of cars rose by 7.3 per cent to 1,053,874 units. April was also a positive month for the British market which, after a weak beginning into 2008, posted the highest growth of the year so far with a rise of 5,505 units. A year-to-year comparison of cumulative figures from January to April shows a stable car demand, with about 860,000 registrations for both 2007 and 2008. In Italy, the downturn trend continued with a decrease of 2.9 per cent compared to 2007 volumes. Adjusted for working days, the deceleration was 12 per cent. However, Italy remains the second-largest market in Europe and its April results were in-line with the monthly average of the last five years. Year-to-date figures show an 8.2 per cent contraction of the market, or 867,207 new cars registered in the first four months of the year. The Spanish market proved to be stable in April, posting a slight growth of 1.5 per cent. Forecasts however have remained unchanged, predicting an overall fall from 7 per cent to 9 per cent in the number of new Spanish registrations in 2008. From January to April, 471,303 cars were registered, 11.5 per cent less than for the same period last year.

The new EU Member States recorded a similar rise in April (up 11.3 per cent) as noted in Western Europe, but also an increase (up 13.1 per cent) in demand over the first four months of the year. Poland improved its April figure by 13.8 per cent and its cumulative results by 15.8 per cent, being the only market in the new EU Member States to have registered over 100,000 vehicles from January to April. It is closely followed by Romania with 96,971 new cars.

In terms of the overall group breakdown, across the EU27 + EFTA, Fiat Group posted the second-largest gain of the ‘Big Six’ European manufacturers, behind VW Group. This was driven largely by growth for the main Fiat brand (incorporating Fiat Professional and Abarth), which posted a 12.1 per cent rise year-on-year for April, from 84,130 to 94,289 units. This increased the Fiat brand’s share of the overall market from 6.5 to 6.6 per cent year-on-year for April. Lancia, waiting for the sales push to be provided by the new Delta, lost ground against the backdrop of a rising market, but its overall sales were all-but identical year-on-year – 10,894 in April 2007 versus 10,889 in April 2008, which kept its market share steady at 0.8 per cent. Alfa Romeo, meanwhile, still suffering the effects of a refitting and subsequent strike at its Pomigliano D’Arco plant, slipped 11.2 per cent, from 10,942 to 9,715 units year-on-year, which saw its market share contract slightly from 0.8 to 0.7 per cent. Elsewhere in the group, Ferrari and Maserati saw a combined increase of 14.7 per cent, from 537 to 616 units registered year-on-year.

A number of rival manufacturers also slightly underperformed the market in April, including PSA Group (+ 6.8 per cent), Ford Group (+ 7.8 per cent), GM Group (+ 6.3 per cent), Renault Group (+ 4.8 per cent) and Toyota Group (– 1.7 per cent). Amongst those to post significant gains included Volkswagen Group (+ 11.4 per cent), BMW Group (+ 24.7 per cent), Daimler (+ 17.6 per cent), Nissan (+ 18.6 per cent) and Mazda (+ 26.5 per cent).

For the year to April, the Fiat Group has so far posted a slight decline in market share (– 1.1 per cent) against a slightly rising market (+ 1.0 per cent). The Fiat brand is up 6.2 per cent, boosting its market share to 6.7 per cent from 6.4. This has helped to offset a moderate loss at Lancia (– 10.7 per cent) and significant ones at Alfa Romeo (– 40.9 per cent), which have taken their market shares down to 0.8 and 0.6 per cent respectively from 0.9 and 1.0. The two ‘specialty’ brands, meanwhile, have performed extremely well, posting a combined gain of 26.9 per cent over last year’s to-date figures.