Fiat Group was present at the 80th Geneva Motor Show this month showing cars including the new Alfa Giulietta (bottom) and the Fiat Sedici (top) while the Fiat Automobiles stand (middle) won an award.

Boosted by its domestic market which was the largest in Europe last month, Fiat Group saw more that ninety thousand registrations during February which put it up 4.9 percent year-on-year and meant it outperformed the overall new car market which was up 3.2 percent while the Italian carmaker's overall European market share climbed from 9.1 to 9.3 percent year-on-year.

New passenger car registrations in the EU increased by 3.0 percent in February, and by 7.9 percent over the first two months of the year, compared to the same period in 2009. With the same average number of working days across the region in February, no calendar effect occurred. Compared to the pre-crisis levels of January and January-February 2008, new car registrations decreased by 15 percent and 16 percent respectively.

In February, a total of 974,346 new cars were registered in Europe, or 3.0 percent more than in February 2009. A big decrease in Europe’s second largest market Germany (-29.8 percent), was countered by an increase in the other major markets. Under the continued influence of government fleet renewal incentives, France recorded 18.2 percent more registrations in February, Italy +20.6 percent, the UK +26.4 percent and Spain +47.0 percent. Romania, Hungary and Poland saw registrations decrease by 63.0 percent, 57.9 percent and 19.2 percent.

Two months into the year, the EU has registered just over two million new passenger cars, or 8.1 percent more than in the same period a year ago. In absolute figures, Italy has registered the most vehicles (407,580 units), followed by Germany (376,035 units), France (352,013 units), the UK (214,165 units) and Spain (161,411 units). Germany was the only larger market to contract (-19.5 percent) from January to February. The market expanded by 16.3 percent in France, 25.5 percent in Italy, 28.7 percent in the UK and 32.9 percent in Spain.

Fiat Group’s performance, more than 14,000 units up on February last year was led out in volume terms by the Fiat Automobiles brand which accounted for 72,356 units, up 3.0 percent year-on-year almost exactly the same as the overall market rise and its market share remained steady at 7.4 percent. Lancia, boosted by another very strong month of sales in Italy was the group’s big year-on-year winner, up 18.7 percent to 10,271 units and its share of European sales climbed from 0.9 to 1.1 percent year-on-year. Alfa Romeo’s 7,857 units was just over five hundred units up on last year to give it an 8.1 percent rise compared to last February while its overall market share remains static on 0.8 percent. Of the Fiat Group’s niche performance/luxury brands, Ferrari and Maserati saw combined sales of 278 cars which was down 9.7 percent on the same month last year.

After the first two months of the year Fiat Group has posted 189,731 sales in Europe, up 12.4 percent on the same period last year, with its overall market share up from 9.0 to 9.3 percent. The complete market is up 8.1 percent in total. The Fiat brand has 152,392 sales for the year-to-date, which leaves it up 11.6 percent year-on-year for the first two months of last year. Lancia is on 20,327 units for the year-to-date and is the Group’s best performer, up 23.2 percent, while Alfa Romeo’s 16,330 units for the opening two months of the year means that it is also ahead of the overall market rise, just, up 8.7 percent. It all adds up to, for the year-to-date, the Fiat brand’s share of all European sales up from 7.2 to 7.5 percent, Lancia up from 0.9 to 1.0 percent while Alfa Romeo remains static on 0.8 percent. Of the luxury/performance brands, Ferrari and Maserati, the have combined sales of 682 units for the year-to-date which is down 18.6 percent on the same period last year.

The big losers last month on Europe included Suzuki, Honda, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Toyota, plagued by its high-profile recall problems, and of course Chrysler Group, in which Fiat holds a 20 percent stake. Chrysler's fading sales in Europe continues unabated and it managed to shift just 2,902 units combined across its three brands (Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep) last month which equated to a 22.2 percent year-on-year fall and added up to a market share of 0.3 percent. For the year to date Chrysler Group has managed 6,034 registrations combined, down 34 percent on the same two months last year and its share of European sales for the year-to-date stands at 0.3 percent.