Alfa Romeo was the best performing brand from the Fiat Group stable in France last month and it saw 623 car sales which placed it into positive territory, up 2.1 percent year-on-year.

In France Fiat Group hasn't been able to replicate the strong August it has seen on other key European markets such as Italy, Germany and the UK, and it underperformed the overall market last month although Alfa Romeo did make it into positive territory.

The whole French market saw 110,542 new registrations during August to put it up 7.0 percent year-on-year with domestic brands (54,667 vehicles) coming out as the big winners, up 11.5 percent, while imported brands (55,875 vehicles) were up 2.9 percent. The domestic brands all performed well with PSA the main winner after Citroën posted a result up 19.1 percent on the back of 15,161 units last month and the Peugeot brand was up 15.8 percent on 17,809 units; meanwhile Renault was also up albeit at a lower level than its rival, after it posted a 3.7 percent year-on-year gain having sold 21,696 cars.

Fiat Group had a mixed month. The Fiat brand has struggled to make an impact in France in recent months, reversing earlier gains this year, despite the effects of the government's scrappage scheme and consumer demand for smaller and more efficient cars. Fiat added 3,554 units during August, but this was down by 18.9 percent on the same month a year ago. Alfa Romeo saw 623 sales in France last month and that saw it in positive territory, up 2.1 percent year-on-year but again more sluggish than in previous months. Lancia fared the worst out of the Fiat Group automobiles brands, it was down 43.5 percent after selling 235 cars.

The Fiat Group's luxury/performance brands suffered as well, Ferrari's 14 units saw it down 12.5 percent year-on-year while Maserati managed just 3 units and that equated to an 82.5 percent contraction on the same month last year. Chrysler Group is down to a flicker of life in France and August saw no change, the Chrysler brand managed to sell just 40 cars (-74.8 percent) while Dodge added 51 (-71.5 percent) and Jeep 63 (-52.6 percent).

After the first eight months of the year France has seen a total of 1,430,391 cars being sold of which 766,230 are domestic and 664,191 imported, meaning that the market is up 1.1 percent on the same period last year although imported brands fare slightly worse, down 0.7 percent. Fiat has 53,339 registrations for the year-to-date and that puts it up 3.8 percent year-on-year and sees it outperforms the overall market; Alfa Romeo has 7,816 units so far this year meaning it is up 19.6 percent year-on-year and that puts its behind only Subaru, Kia, Chevrolet and Ferrari; while Lancia's 3,363 units also keep it positive, up 4.3 percent year-on-year.

Of the Group's niche brands Ferrari has seen its sales almost double (+49.1) to 237 units while Maserati's 178 allow it to also squeeze into positive territory (+1.1 percent). The picture is more gloomy at Chrysler Group though with the Chrysler brand faring the worst, its 801 units for the year to date putting it down 60.1 percent year-on-year. Dodge and Jeep have equally struggled this year and are on 1,038 units (-42.6 percent) and 835 units (-53.4 percent) respectively after the first two thirds of the year.