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The Fiat Group comfortably outperformed the
Italian new car market during August to end the
eighth month of 2009 up 10.68 percent
year-on-year which compared favourably to the
overall market's 8.54 percent rise and with the
Fiat brand (+10.18 percent) as well as Lancia
(+26.51 percent) underpinning this sterling
performance. Fiat Group sold 28,545 out of a
total of 84,560 new cars that were registered in
Italy during August which is traditionally the
quietest month of the year as Italians take
their summer holiday, according to data released
by UNRAE.
The Fiat Group's
10.68 percent year-on-year rise meant that the dominant
Italian carmaker was able to increase its share of its home
market from 33.10 to 33.76 percent year-on-year. The Fiat
brand (including Abarth) saw 21,887 registrations last month
that put it up 10.18 percent year-on-year and raised its
market share from 25.50 to 28.88 percent, Lancia's 4,514
units last month was up a massive 26.51 percent on the
previous August and raised its share of the Italian new car
market for the month from 4.58 to 5.34 percent. Alfa Romeo
was the only faller amongst the Fiat Group Automobiles
portfolio of brands and its total of 2,116 cars was less
than half that managed by its sister niche brand Lancia.
This performance saw Alfa Romeo's market share shrinking
down from 2.98 to 2.50 percent year-on-year during August.
Of the Group's specialist sports/luxury brands Maserati's 20
units put it down 28.57 percent year-on-year while Ferrari
weighed in with 8 of its sports cars and was down 20
percent.
After the first
eight months of the year the Fiat Group has 475,892
registrations in Italy to its name which is less than 20,000
units under last year's year-to-date total meaning that its
is down by just 3.37 percent and while having outperformed
the overall market (itself down 7.39 percent for the
year-to-date) this means that the domestic giant's share of
all sales to date has climbed from 32.10 to 33.50 percent
year-on-year. The Fiat brand has 369,496 sales so far this
year which puts it down 4.91 percent year-on-year but with
its share of the market up from 25.33 to 26.01 percent,
Lancia is on 66,507 units, up 0.15 percent year-on-year and
with its share of the market up from 4.34 to 4.69, while
Alfa Romeo too is up on last year, its 38,801 units for the
year-to-date putting it up 6.97 percent and its share of all
sales up from 2.36 to 2.73 percent. Of the specialist
brands, Maserati is on 473 units so far this year, down
22.96 percent, while Ferrari is on 517 cars and is unchanged
on last year when it had sold 516 cars up to this date.
Italy's
best-selling car during August was the Fiat Punto (including
Grande Punto and Classic versions) which found 8,047 buyers
during the month to keep it well ahead of the second placed
Panda (6,640) while the Fiat 500 (2,755) made it four Fiat
models in the top-four spots. The only other FGA
representative in the Italian top-ten last month was
Lancia's Ypsilon which clinched seventh spot with 2,374
units sold. The Punto was also Italy's best selling diesel
with 2,808 units being specified by customers fitted with
the Multijet engine. The Punto is also the best-selling car
in Italy for the year-to-date with 118,877 units sold so far
this year while the Panda (114,314) is a very close second.
Elsewhere in the top-ten the 500 (57,329) is fourth and the
Ypsilon (32,935) is eighth.
In A-segment the
Panda and 500 locked out proceedings at the top of the class
while the long-running Seicento crept back into the top-ten
in ninth, with 695 units sold. In B-segment the Punto
dominated while the Ypsilon was fifth and the Lancia Musa
(1,207) tenth. In C-segment the Fiat Bravo (1,513) was
second to the VW Golf (2,163) but it pushed the Ford Focus
into third place by 20 units. The Lancia Delta (868) was
fifth in the segment while the Fiat Sedici (765) was
seventh. For the year to date the Bravo is third best seller
in C-segment with (26,868), close behind the Focus (28,397)
but well shy of the Golf (37,658). The Delta meanwhile is on
14,637 units after the first eight months of the year. In
D-segment the Alfa 159 (612) showed improved form and was
second only to the Audi A4 (775) while the Fiat Croma (458)
was sixth. For the year-to-date the 159 is the third best
seller in D-segment, now on 9,612 units while the Croma has
notched up 7,915 registrations.
Elsewhere in the
Fuoristrada segment the Sedici (626) was the clear
winner, the Musa was on top in the small MPV category with
double the sales managed by its nearest rival, the Renault
Modus, the Fiat Multipla (243) was sixth in the class
reserved for compact MPVs and the Alfa MiTo was the runaway
winner in the class for coupé cars where it is counted in
Italy, the small Alfa Romeo adding 1,012 units in August
compared to the second placed Audi A5 which mustered 135. In
Multispace the Fiat Qubo (the passenger version of
the Fiorino van) was top with 412 units sold but the ageing
Doblò uncharacteristically slipped to fourth place last
month with 112 units.
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