Fiat Group turned in a stunning sales performance across right Europe during March as while the market fell by 9 pct and all its big rivals lost ground, it gained 14.3 percent year-on-year. The main Fiat, Alfa Romeo and Lancia brands all ended last month in positive territory.

Declining for the eleventh consecutive month, passenger car registrations in Europe fell in March compared to the same month last year. The result was lifted by the on average three more working days across the region and the effect of fleet renewal schemes in a number of countries. Over the first quarter of 2009, the market was down by 17.2 pct with a total of 3,439,720 new registrations compared to 4,154,778 units in the same period last year.

Western Europe recorded 1,429,445 new passenger car registrations in March (-8.0 pct). The result was boosted by the 39.9 pct expansion of the German market, where consumers continued to respond widely to the government’s incentive scheme introduced in January. Such a development underpinned the markets in France (+8.0 pct) and Italy (+0.2 pct) as well. In the UK, where March is usually a strong month, registrations fell by 30.5 pct, reflecting the overall persisting lack of confidence in the economy. This sentiment also prevailed in Spain (-38.7 pct). Three months into the year, new registrations were down 16.3 pct in Europe. The German market was the only one to post growth (+18.0 pct). The downturn hit the Spanish (-43.1 pct) and the British (-29.7 pct) markets hardest. The Italian and French markets were down 19.1 pct and -3.9 pct. Among the smaller markets, Luxemburg (-10.4 pct), Switzerland (-12.3 pct), Austria (-12.9 pct) and Belgium (-15.3 pct) performed best while Ireland and Iceland posted a decline of 64.9 pct and 91.3 pct respectively in March, or 25.4 pct less than last year. Poland and the Czech Republic, two of the major markets in the region, posted a growth of 2.5 pct and 0.9 pct respectively. Slovakia also recorded a strong increase of 18.2 pct following the introduction of a car scrapping scheme. Looking at the cumulative figures from January to March, Poland consolidated its position as the largest market with a total of 87,939 new registrations and a 1.3 pct upturn. Latvia performed worst with a contraction by 77.9 pct.

The Fiat Group saw 137,029 new vehicle registrations during March, a massive 14.3 pct up on the same month the previous year (when there were 119,931 units registered) to raise its total market share from 7.2 to 9.1 pct. The Fiat brand (including the Fiat Professional and Abarth divisions) saw 114,101 registrations to help it finish up 13.3 pct, Alfa Romeo with 11,059 units registered was boosted by demand for the MiTo and was up 40.9 pct, while Lancia (11,082) was up 4.5 pct. This meant that the Fiat brand raised its overall European market share from 6.1 to 7.6 pct year-on-year, Alfa Romeo was up from 0.5 to 0.7 pct, and Lancia climbed from 0.6 to 0.7 pct.

After the first quarter of the year the Fiat Group, with 308,150 units sold, accounts for 9.0 pct of all European registrations, up from 8.1 pct during the first three months of last year. This however is down 8.6 pct year-on-year, but is comfortably the softest fall of any of the big European carmaking groups. The Fiat brand accounts for 252,276 units of these and is down 10.1 pct, Lancia (27,696) loses 14.8 pct, while Alfa Romeo (26,507) is up 20.1 pct on the opening three months of last year. With the European market having lost 17.2 pct during the first quarter, this means that the Fiat brand increases its share of the market from 6.8 to 7.3 pct year-on-year, Lancia is unchanged on 0.8 pct, while Alfa Romeo moves up from 0.5 to 0.8 pct.