Despite the German new car market diving into negative territory last month as the lingering effects of the scrappage scheme evaporated, Fiat Automobiles saw its sales climb by more than a quarter year-on-year and its ends the full-year in Germany with its sales up by a very impressive 86.1 percent.

Despite the German new car market diving into negative territory last month as the lingering effects of the scrappage scheme evaporated, Fiat Automobiles saw its sales climb by more than a quarter year-on-year and its ends the full-year in Germany with its sales up by a very impressive 86.1 percent. Alfa Romeo also ends the year on a positive note, its sales up by more than a half for the full-year just gone versus 2008, although its strong recent run came to an abrupt halt in December as sales plunged by a half year-on-year.

The booming run for most automakers selling cars in Germany ground to an abrupt halt in December and with 215,564 registrations the market was down by 4.16 percent on the same month last year. This slide didn’t affect Fiat which has been one of the prime beneficiaries of the government administered scrappage scheme this year, and its 6,036 units last month equated to a 26.8 percent year-on-year rise in registrations to give it a 2.8 percent share of the market for the month. This good run didn’t however extend to either of the niche brands in the Fiat Group Automobiles brand portfolio, Alfa Romeo reversed its recent strong run and its 384 sales left it down 49.5 percent year-on-year. It claimed a 0.2 percent share of the market for December, while Lancia’s 100 registrations left it down 45.1 percent.

The German new car market has enjoyed an excellent year, bouncing back from the recession as the government-sponsored scrappage scheme successfully drove customers into the showrooms. The market ends the year with 3,807,175 registrations which puts it up by almost a quarter (+23.2 percent) on 2008. Fiat was a big winner in Germany selling 163,953 cars during the course of 2009 which was up 86.1 percent on its 2008 tally and gave it a 4.3 percent share of the market for the year. Alfa Romeo was another of the market’s winners, its 11,993 units for the full year left it up 57.9 percent on its performance in 2008 and allowed it to grab 0.3 percent of all sales in Germany. Other winners included Hyundai (+76.7 percent), Nissan (+45.3 percent), Renault including Dacia (+53.5 percent) and Toyota including Lexus (43.1 percent). Lancia couldn’t replicate the success of its sister FGA brands and its 3,424 units for the year left it slightly down 4.2 percent year-on-year.

There was nothing positive for either December or the full year for Fiat’s new U.S. partner Chrysler Group as its European sales continue to fade away. During December it managed just 418 registrations in Germany combined across its Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep brands, which was down 47.2 percent on the same month a year ago. For the full year of 2009 it managed just 7,705 registrations which meant it lost nearly half its market share (-46.9 percent) and was the worst performer in Germany bar only the GM brand (albeit with just 1,378 units) and the failing Swedish carmaker Saab.