Fiat Automobiles India saw its sales continue to rise during the month of February and with 2,256 vehicles sold in India it meant it was up an impressive 78 percent year-on-year as the Italian carmaker's renaissance on that market continues apace. That performance was up nearly 1,000 units on last February when 1,309 units of Fiat branded models were sold.

Last January the Linea had just come on stream to join the refreshed Palio Stile in the Indian showrooms and the success of the sedan, which is also built in Turkey and Brazil, pushed the brand's revival forward in the country. In the intervening year the Punto has also gone on sale and boasts a strong order book. These three models are built at the joint Fiat-Tata Motors factory at Ranjangaon in Pune, while also on sale in India is the Fiat 500 which is imported from Poland in fully-built format.

For the last twelve months Fiat's sales are equally as impressive although it has to be borne in mind that during the previous period its was mostly reliant on the decade old Palio which has never found favour much with Indian buyers. Over the last twelve months to February Fiat Automobiles India accounts for 22,645 vehicles (including exports: the Linea in particular is shipped to the South African market) as opposed to 6,925 vehicles sold during the previous twelve month period which adds up to a 327 percent growth for 2009-10 compared to 2008-09.

Fiat Automobiles India is a 50-50 joint venture between Fiat Group Automobiles and Tata Motors and the dominant Indian firm also recorded an impressive month in its domestic market with sales of its cars, at 26,985 units being the highest ever and a growth of 42 percent over February 2009. Sales of the ultra low-cost Nano car were 4,105 units for the month while the Indica range sales were 11,502 units, the highest recorded over the last year. The Indigo range notched up sales of 7,373 units, the highest ever since the Indigo’s launch in 2002 and a growth of 75.2 percent over February last year. The Sumo/Safari range accounted for sales of 4,005 units, the highest over the last twelve months and a growth of 14 percent over February last year while the Sumo family individually recorded the highest sales over the last twelve month period.