European sales data for July and August have just been released and Fiat Group has become the first of the big carmakers to haul itself into positive territory year-on-year for the year-to-date and with 850,958 units in the first eight months of the year that puts it up almost 10,000 units and 1.1 percent up on the same period last year. The data has been released this morning by European automotive manufacturer body ACEA which always announces July and August figures together in mid-September.

The overall European market posted growth over summer with 2.8 percent and 3.0 percent more cars registered in July and August respectively, derived from starkly varying results in individual countries. The increase, commenced in June after fourteen months of downturn, is mainly reflecting the impact of incentive schemes in a number of markets across the EU. Eight months into the year, registrations are still 8.2 percent lower than in the same period last year, amounting to 9,565,517 units.

In July, new passenger car registrations rose to 2.8 percent, totalling 1,295,711 vehicles in Europe. Western Europe registered a 5.1 percent increase which counter-balanced the 25.0 percent downturn observed in the new EU Member States. Austria (+44.1 percent) recorded the biggest upturn while the sharpest drops were to be found in Latvia (-86.6 percent) and Ireland (-77.1 percent). Except for Spain (-10.9 percent), the largest markets all posted growth, from +2.4 percent in the UK, which recorded its first positive result since April 2007, to +3.0 percent in France, +6.6 percent in Italy and +29.5 percent in Germany. In the new EU Member States, only Slovakia (+38.8 percent), the Czech Republic (+9.3 percent) and Poland (+5.1 percent) saw their markets expand while Hungary (-74.0 percent) and Romania (-50.7 percent) saw theirs contract significantly.

Fiat Group saw 116,946 registrations across Europe during July which was up 10.9 percent year-on-year (and was four times the overall market rise) to gave it a market share of 9.0 percent, up from 8.4 percent in the same month last year. The Fiat brand (including the Abarth performance division) accounted for 92,917 units which put it up 11 percent year-on-year and raised its market share from 6.6 to 7.2 percent year-on-year. Lancia was the biggest year-on-year winner, it was up a massive 20.5 percent to 12,543 units and that raised its market share from 0.8 to a full one percent age point of the market. Alfa Romeo with 10,854 units was up 2.2 percent and remained on an 0.8 percent share of the market. The Group's specialist luxury/performance units, Ferrari and Maserati, saw a combined 650 sales in July which was down by 7.7 percent on July last year.

In August, markets performed similarly although slightly improving in Western Europe (+7.8 percent) and decreasing a little more in the new EU Member States (-35.2 percent), resulting in an overall 3.0 percent growth in the whole region. Driven by fleet renewal incentives, Germany recorded a 28.4 percent plus, while the UK (+6.0 percent), France (+7.0 percent) and Italy (+8.5 percent) also performed better than a year ago. After fifteen months of downturn, Spain saw its market stabilize (0.0 percent) in August. In the new EU Member States, Slovakia (+26.2 percent), the Czech Republic (+16.3 percent) and Poland (+3.1 percent) were still on an upward trend, while Hungary (-68.4 percent) and Romania (-71.9 percent) faced substantial losses.

The success continued into August for Fiat Group and after selling 61,067 vehicles it was up 9.0 percent year-on-year, and outperforming the overall market rise three times over. It raised the Group's share of all August sales from 7.0 to 7.4 percent year-on-year. The Fiat brand took the biggest slice with 49,376 units which is up 9.1 percent on the same month last year and took its share of August sales 5.6 to 6.0 percent year-on-year. Alfa Romeo's 5,761 units was up 4.2 percent year-on-year and its share of the market remained unchanged on 0.7 percent while Lancia was again the star performer, its 5,685 units left it less than one hundred units shy of sister Alfa Romeo brand and equated to a year-on-year jump of 15.7 percent.

Eight months into the year, new registrations are down 6.6 percent in Western Europe and 26.8 percent in the new EU Member States, resulting in an overall 8.1 percent downturn. Germany (+26.8 percent), Austria (+5.5 percent), France (+1.1 percent), Slovakia (+22.3 percent), the Czech Republic (+9.0 percent) and Poland (+1.0 percent) have posted growth. Despite better results over the last months, Italy (-7.4 percent), the UK (-21.5 percent) and Spain (-32.0 percent) record negative figures on a year-to-date basis, as did the vast majority of countries. In the new EU Member States, Hungary (-49.7 percent) and Romania (- 59.5 percent) have seen their markets contract sharply

August saw Fiat Group haul itself into positive territory year-on-year for the year-to-date with 850,958 units that puts it up almost 10,000 units and 1.1 percent up on the same period last year while its share of all sales is up from 8.1 to 8.9 percent. It means that Fiat is the only one of the big carmaking groups selling in Europe to see its registrations up on last year, while the total market is down 8.1 percent and VW Group, still down 2.0 percent is the closest to Fiat while rivals GM, Daimler, Toyota and BMW are all still rooted in double figure year-on-year sales shrinkages. In fact of every carmaker selling in Europe, the only other one to be in positive territory is Hyundai, and the South Korean firm comes from a small sales base.

The Fiat brand has 690,120 sales for the year-to-date which puts it up 0.5 percent on the opening eight months of last year and raises its share of the market from 6.6 to 7.2 percent year-on-year. Lancia's 80,297 units puts it up 0.1 percent year-on-year and keeps its share unchanged on 0.8 percent while 75,912 units year-to-date for Alfa Romeo is up 8.7 percent year-on-year and raises its share of the market from 0.7 to 0.8 percent.