Fiat Automóveis (above, its best-selling model in Brazil, the Palio continued to lead the local market during October after selling 67,987 new cars and light commercial vehicles combined, beating the overall market which put on a strong surge to end the month up 23.1 percent year-on-year. The futuristic Fiat FCC II off-road buggy concept car, which was developed entirely by Fiat Automóveis, has received an important design honour at this month's "Brazil Design Week" Fiat's LCV sales have been boosted by a widening of the Strada light pick-up range this year, Brazil's best selling commercial, which now benefits from an extended cabin option to bring the number of cabin versions to three.

Fiat Automóveis continued to lead the Brazilian market during October after selling 67,987 new cars and light commercial vehicles combined, while beating the overall market which surged 23.1 percent year-on-year. With 57,135 cars sold Fiat Automóveis was up 30.7 percent year-on-year in the passenger car sector and over thirteen thousand units ahead of last October's total of 43,706 units. The commercial vehicle unit meanwhile accounted for the remaining 10,852 Fiat Automóveis vehicles to be registered on Latin America's biggest market and this was up 12.1 percent on the same month last year when 9,684 LCVs were sold by the Italian carmaker in Brazil.

For the year-to-date Fiat Automóveis has sold a total of 514,646 passenger cars which is up 5.2 percent year-on-year (the overall Brazilian market accounts for 230,526 new cars so far this year) while Fiat’s LCV division is on 96,061 units for the first ten months of the year which is up 12.7 percent year-on-year. Fiat's LCV sales have been boosted by a widening of the Strada light pick-up range this year, Brazil's best selling commercial, which now benefits from an extended cabin option to bring the number of cabin versions to three.

Fiat Automóveis' closest rival on the Brazilian market, Volkswagen, wasn’t quite able to match the Italian company’s market performance in the passenger car division for September, its 54,366 units putting it up 24.7 percent year-on-year although it continues to lead the market fourteen thousand units ahead of Fiat Automóveis and up 15.6 percent for the year-to-date. However its commercial vehicle sales are almost half that of Fiat for the year-to-date, 46,614 units versus 96,061 units, and when passenger car and LCV sales are combined Fiat Automóveis comfortably retains its clear leadership of the market.

Taken month-on-month Brazilian new car passenger sales slid by 7.5 percent on September and all the leading players slipped along with the overall market although Fiat’s 4.6 percent decline outperformed the market. Last month Fiat was just over two and a half thousand units shy of September's registrations which had come in at 59,863 units. Passenger car market leader Volkswagen posted sales last month of 54,542 which was down 11 percent month-on-month and this allowed Fiat to make up ground. Third placed GM was down 11.8 percent month-on-month while fourth-placed Ford fared best compared to September, down 3.4 percent. The LCV sector performed much better and here Fiat Automóveis was up 7.7 percent month-on-month (outperforming the sector’s total 6.8 percent month-on-month increase) while Volkswagen was also up, by 9.5 percent, although GM and Ford both lost ground, down 3.3 and 4.1 percent respectively.

Fiat, as the biggest manufacturer on the Brazilian market was also in pole position to benefit as the country's vehicle production jumped during October following a slowdown in September, with output of 316,000 units putting output up 15.7 percent on the previous month as well as up 6.3 percent compared to October 2008. It reversed a production decline of 6.7 percent for September versus August.

Meanwhile across the border in Argentina, Latin America's third biggest new car market, Fiat’s Córdoba factory has been boosted by the surge in Brazilian new car sales that has taken place since the summer, and as a whole the country expects to see around 500,000 new vehicles being manufactured this year. This is down from last year’s 600,000 but beats forecasts particularly as Argentina was one of the countries least well placed to combat the effects of the global recession and it is suffering from its traditional inflationary trend. So far this year Córdoba has turned out 62,264 units of the Fiat Siena sedan to the end of October, making Fiat one of Argentina’s key manufacturers. Other leading automobile manufacturers in Argentina include PSA Peugeot-Citroën (63,650 units year-to-date) and GM (62,799 units year-to-date).