Fiat's performance was headlined by the 500 which was the ninth best-selling car in the UK for the month, its highest ever sales position, with 2,764 units registered.

As the UK new car market surged 38.87 percent year-on-year during December Fiat (+78.52 percent) and Alfa Romeo (+133.07 percent) were two of the biggest winners while the Fiat 500 wound up as the ninth biggest-selling car for the month.

The UK market in fact turned it the third best December on record and highest since 2005. The performance was above forecasts by trade body SMMT, as buyers acted before VAT rises kick in next month. The strong year-end lifted registrations to 1,994,999 units for the whole of 2009, some 67,000 units above the forecast in October and 337,000 units above the April forecast (pre scrappage scheme announcement). However, 2009 was still the first sub two million market in the UK since 1995 and it was down 6.4 percent year-on-year.

With its range of smaller efficient cars, comprising the Panda, 500 and Grande Punto, Fiat Group Automobiles UK was able to take full advantage of the government-sponsored scrappage scheme which accounted for a provisional 20.8 percent of December's volumes, with over 280,000 units having gone through the scheme since its launch in May. With the scheme finishing the overall new market is forecast to fall back below 1.8 million units in 2010. Private demand also performed better than expected, buoyed by scrappage and, more recently, consumers taking advantage of reduced VAT rates. Average new car CO2 emissions fell by 5.4 percent on the 2008 level to 149.5g/km in 2009.

For the Fiat brand the picture was very rosy during December in the UK, its 5,459 units was up two-and-a-half-thousand cars on the same month a year ago (3,058 in December 2008), a year-on-year rise of 78.52 percent, and this raised its share of the market for the final month of the year from 2.81 to 3.62 percent year-on-year. Fiat's performance was headlined by the 500 supermini which was the ninth best-selling car in the UK for the month, its highest ever sales position, with 2,764 being registered. Ford’s Fiesta was the best-selling model in December as well as over the full year. More than 24,000 Fiat 500s were sold last year, dramatically up from 15,000 in 2008. Alfa Romeo had an impressive month too, albeit off the back of a poor December 2008, its 599 registrations last month was up 133.07 percent on the 257 cars it sold during the final month of last year. That increased its share of the UK market for the month from 0.24 to 0.40 percent year-on-year. Alfa Romeo’s flourishing 2009 in the UK was boosted by strong demand for the MiTo: more than 6,000 have been sold since its launch last January. Abarth, the Fiat's sports brand, also had a strong final month of the year, it added 113 more units of its two-model range based on the 500 and Grande Punto, although year-on-year data is inaccurate as it was only launched last summer and just 5 units were registered in December 2008. It does however mean that Abarth saw its year-on-year sales rise by 2,160.00 percent.

Fiat and Alfa Romeo are also two of a very small handful of brands to end the year in the UK with increased year-on-year sales. The Fiat brand weighs in with 60,337 registrations for the full-year, up 5,000 units on 2008 when 55,325 units were sold, a year-on-year rise of 9.06 percent, and this raises overall market share from 2.60 to 3.02 percent, its best result from 2002. Alfa Romeo ends the year up 52.39 percent after selling 9,067 cars in December versus 5,950 for the last month of 2008. It all means that Alfa Romeo was only beaten in terms year-on-year performance for 2009 versus 2008 by the two South Korean carmakers, Hyundai and Proton, if niche two brands, Corvette (36 sales) and MG (374 sales), are discounted. This was also Alfa Romeo's best result in the UK for six years, and its best market share (0.45 percent) since 2003. Abarth ended its first full year back in the UK with 1,381 sales, compared to 100 units for 2008 when it was launched mid-year and had a limited dealer network.

“The December new car market was boosted by the Scrappage Incentive Scheme and consumers looking to avoid January’s VAT increase,” said Paul Everitt, SMMT chief executive. “The 2009 market of 1,994,999 new car registrations was significantly above early expectations and reflects the positive impact of the scheme, due to end in February. “Another tough year awaits the UK motor industry in 2010, with new car registrations expected to be below 2009 levels and only limited recovery in the van and heavy commercial vehicle markets. Sustaining the progress made in the latter part of 2009 will require stronger demand from fleet and business buyers, alongside the greater availability and affordability of credit and finance,” he continued.

Fiat also enjoyed success in the used car market in 2009 with some impressive residual value increases across most models and derivatives. The demand for good value, economical cars meant Fiat were well placed, with some of the UK’s most popular cars in the Panda, Grande Punto and 500. 

“The best year since 2002, with a market share of over three per cent, the last quarter averaging over four per cent, and sales of nearly 71,000 cars – the figures speak for themselves,” says Andrew Humberstone, managing director, FGA UK and Ireland. “This is the result of a clear strategy coming to fruition, an unmistakable recovery of the brands and their product initiatives, and the support of a more streamlined dealer network which is showing improvements to its profitability. “This has also been an exceptional year for Fiat used cars with many residual values far exceeding the market norm; Grande Punto for instance saw a 25 per cent increase in values, while Panda experienced over 22 per cent.”