The new Alfa MiTo (1,853) was the clear top seller in the coupé category in Italy last month. Alfa Romeo's newest model has amassed 6,386 registrations ever since going on sale in Italy in the summer, and it has already moved ahead of the BMW 3-series (5,439 YTD) to become the best-selling coupé car on the market so far this year.

The Italian new car market continues to suffer from the dramatic global economic downturn, during November, it was down 29.46 pct year-on-year, and while Fiat Group lost 28.46 pct this did allow the national carmaker to raise its total market share from 30.96 to 31.49 pct. That Italian market slump equated to 138,352 vehicles registered during November, compared to 196,125 units during the same month a year ago. The data has been released by Italian automotive body UNRAE.

Fiat Group saw 43,562 unit registrations during November, putting it firmly down 28.46 pct on the 60,719 units it shifted during the same period a year ago. The Fiat brand (including the Fiat Professional and Abarth divisions) saw 33,893 unit registrations during November, and this meant it was down 28.86 pct; Lancia ended the month with  5,752 units (-25.01 pct) sold, and Alfa Romeo rounded out the FGA brands after adding a further 3,632 units (-31.29 pct). Of the specialist Fiat Group brands, Maserati shifted 37 of its sports cars (-46.38 pct) while Ferrari saw 37 registrations and it also lost ground (-9.76 pct). The Fiat brand though was able to lift its share of the Italian market from 24.29 to 24.50 pct in November, Lancia also gained momentum on its rivals, up from 3.91 to 4.26 pct, although Alfa Romeo continued to give up ground, down from 2.70 to 2.63 pct.

After the first eleven months of the year the Italian new vehicle market has seen 2,018,587 registrations, and is down 13.4 pct on the same period last year; Fiat Group, with 647,944 registrations for the year to date, has significantly outperformed the market and is down 11.36 pct, which means that it has raised its overall market share from 31.36 to 32.10 pct. The Fiat brand has 507,633 (-9.76 pct) registrations for year-to-date, while Lancia weighs in with 87,418 (-11.12 pct) and Alfa Romeo has 49,445 (-28.01 pct).

The Fiat Panda (10,982) was the best-selling car in Italy last month, almost 800 units ahead of the Fiat Punto (10,195) while the Ford Fiesta (6,339) pushed the Fiat 500 (5,194) back into fourth place. The Lancia Ypsilon (2,881) had an uncharacteristically poor month of sales and slipped down to ninth place. For the year-to-date the Punto (147,324) is the clear market leader, well ahead of the Panda (137,367), with the 500 (88,924) making it a top-three lock-out for the national carmaker. The other Fiat Group representatives within the top-ten sellers for year-to-date were the Ypsilon (51,716) in fifth and the Fiat Bravo (40,952) in tenth.

While the Panda and 500 dominated sales in A-segment and the Punto (including the Grande Punto and Punto Classic versions) was firmly in command in B-segment, the Bravo (1,851) lost ground last month in C-segment to the VW Golf, Nissan Qashqai and Ford Focus. The new Lancia Delta (1,632) continues to make inroads into C-segment and it finished the month in sixth place while in D-segment the Fiat Croma (753) was the only representative in the top-ten, in seventh place.

In the categories the Fiat Sedici (1,191) was the best selling car amongst the small crossovers in November; the Fiat Multipla (1,025) last month continued its good run to post the third highest sales in the class reserved for compact MPVs; the Lancia Musa (1,086) and Fiat Idea (647) were third and fourth amongst the small MPVs, while the new Alfa MiTo (1,853) was the clear top seller in the coupé category. In fact Alfa Romeo's newest model has amassed 6,386 registrations ever since going on sale in Italy in the summer, and it has already moved ahead of the BMW 3-series (5,439 YTD) to become the best-selling coupé car on the market so far this year. Finally, Lancia's big Phedra (125) was third best seller amongst the large MPVs last month and in 'Multispace' the Fiat Fiorino (513) came out on top ahead of the Fiat Doblò (330).