Fiat Group continued to build market share across Europe in October, its 16.1 percent rise easily outperforming the overall market which surged more than ten percent while its share of all sales for the month rose from 8.3 to 8.7 percent year-on-year. Photo: The new Fiat Qubo Trekking Traction+ version went on sale in Italy last month.

Fiat Group continued to build market share across Europe through October as buying continued to favour smaller and more efficient cars, its 16.1 percent year-on-year rise comfortably outperforming the overall market which surged more than ten percent, and this helped the Italian carmaker to raises its year-on-year share of all European sales for the month from 8.3 to 8.7 percent. All-in-all it was a strong month for European new car sales, witsh the Fiat Group seeing 109,481 units registered, up by fifteen thousand units on the same month last year, according to data released by European automotive manufacturer body ACEA.

In October, contrasting performances in Western Europe (+15.8 percent) and the new EU Member States (-36.9 percent) resulted in an overall growth of the European new car market by 11.2 percent compared to a marked decrease (-14.4 percent) in October 2008. From January to October, registrations declined by 5 percent, amounting to 12,206,381 units. The month of October counted on average one working day less this year across the region.

In Western Europe, new car registrations totalled 1,200,861 units in October, or 15.8 percent more than in October last year, mostly led by an increase in the major markets and supported by fleet renewal incentives. British new car registrations expanded by 31.6 percent, the Spanish by 26.4 percent, the German by 24.1 percent, the French by 20.3 percent and the Italian by 15.7 percent. Portugal (+3.5p ercent) and Austria (+2.7 percent) also increased registrations. Ten months into the year, results were down 3 percent with a total of 12,206,381 new vehicles registered. Only Germany (+25.9 percent), France (+4.2 percent) and Austria (+6.3 percent) recorded a plus. Demand for new cars decreased in Spain (-24.4 percent), the UK (-12.3 percent) and Italy (-3.9 percent).

In the new EU Member States, new car registrations dropped by 36.9 percent in October. The Czech Republic was the only country to post growth (+8.8 percent). Elsewhere, the downturn ranged from 8.4 percent (Poland) to 81.6 percent (Latvia). From January to September, the decline was 29.6 percent in the region. Slovakia (+13.5 percent), the Czech Republic (+8.1 percent) and Poland (+0.6 percent) saw their markets expand while all others contracted sharply.

Against this mixed backdrop the Fiat brand set the European pace for the Italian carmaker in October, its 88,407 registrations was up thirteenth thousand units and 17.7 percent on the same period last year. Lancia also outperformed the overall sharp rise in car sales, its 11,101 units for October versus 9,811 for the same month last year putting it up 13.1 percent year-on-year to beat the market by almost two percentage points. Alfa Romeo gained 5.9 percent year-on-year with 9,538 units, which was 532 more than it shifted during the same month last year. This meant the Fiat brand increased its European market share from 6.6 to 7.0 percent year-on-year while Lancia and Alfa Romeo remained on 0.9 and 0.8 percent year-on-year respectively. The Fiat Group’s two niche performance/luxury brands, Ferrari and Maserati, were up a combined 13.3 percent with 435 vehicles registered versus 384 during the same month last year.

For the year-to-date the Fiat Group has now tipped into seven figure registrations across Europe thanks to its October sales tally, and its total of 1,071,513 units is thirty-eight thousand units and 3.7 percent up on the same ten months last year. Its share of all sales across Europe for the ten month period has climbed from 8.0 to 8.8 percent year-on-year. The overall market by contrast down 5.0 percent and Fiat Group is still the only one of the big automobile manufacturers in Europe to be up year-on-year for the year-to-date period, VW is closest, it has narrowed its deficit after ten months to -0.7 percent, while PSA Peugeot-Citroën (-4.6 percent), Ford (-1.6 percent), GM (-10.7 percent) and Renault (-27 percent), all lodged above the Fiat Group in terms of sales, are all down on metal shifted last year.

The Fiat brand has 867,799 registrations for the year-to-date and is up 3.2 percent on the same ten month period last year, Lancia is on 102,285 units, up 3.0 percent, and Alfa Romeo is on 95,802 units, up 9.5 percent. It means the Fiat brand has increased its share of all sales In Europe for the first ten months of the year from 6.5 to 7.1 percent year-on-year, while Lancia and Alfa Romeo remain unchanged on 0.8 and 0.7 percent respectively. The Ferrari and Maserati brands have a combined total of 5,627 units for the year-to-date and are down slightly, at -3.1 percent, on the same period last year.