Fiat Automóveis sold 70,063 cars and light commercial vehicles combined in Brazil last month and that equated to a significant 16.5 percent month-on-month rise as its sales volumes for 2010 continue to increase, according to a report released by the Associação Nacional dos Fabricantes de Veículos Automotores (Anfavea) which is based on data from the Registro Nacional dos Veículos Automotores (Renavam). Breaching the seventy thousand unit sales barrier in July also allowed Fiat Automóveis to take a market-leading stake of all registrations for the month.

That total splits up into 56,358 passenger cars and 13,705 light commercial vehicles for Fiat Automóveis. In the segment reserved for passenger cars Fiat Automóveis was up 17.8 percent month-on-month closely mirroring the overall Brazilian market which was up 17.7 percent month-on-month (222,461 passenger cars during July). However year-on-year Fiat was very slightly down year-on-year (-2.4 percent) when compared to the overall market which was down 1.0 percent year-on-year for the month.

It all added up to place Fiat nearly five thousand units ahead of its closest rival VW (including VW and Audi sales data combined) which was up 16.7 percent month-on-month but down a large chunk (-12.5 percent) year-on-year for July. The third best-selling carmaker in Brazil last month was GM, it though lagged ten thousand units adrift of Fiat and was down 1.5 percent year-on-year.

Fiat's sales performance in July was dominated by the Uno (counting the new and old models together) which saw 23,075 registrations to put it well ahead of the "Progetto 178" sisters models, the Siena (sedan) and Palio (hatchback) which notched up 12,253 and 11,301 units for the month respectively, the latter now stabilising very well after the Uno bit sharply into its sales volumes, and despite its increasing age. Next up for Fiat during July was the Punto (2,811) followed by the Palio Weekend (2,759) and then the Idea (1,876) which has received a comprehensive facelift both cosmetically and under the skin this month, before the lackluster Linea (845) is followed by the Doblò (7370 and the Stilo (645) to complete the Fiat Automóveis model line-up.

In the segment reserved for LCVs Fiat racked up 13,705 registrations for July which is impressively up by more than a quarter year-on-year (+25.7 percent) and up in double digits month-on-month (+11.2 percent), comfortably outperforming the surging overall LCV market which was up 22.4 percent year-on-year and up 6.9 percent compared to the pervious month, June. Iveco weighed in with 220 LCV sales for the month. The Strada pick-up (10,150) was Fiat's top-selling LCV for the month of July and it also dominated the overall market segment as usual, with the Fiorino (2,205) the second best-selling Fiat model ahead of the Ducato (997) and Doblò Cargo (265).

For the year-to-date Fiat has sold 332,184 passenger cars in Brazil which is down 3.9 percent year-on-year; that compares unfavourably to the overall market which just makes it into in positive territory (+1.5 percent). Second placed VW is nine thousand cars behind for the first seven months of the year and is down 10.2 percent over the same period last year. The Uno (105,698) is steaming well ahead in the Italian carmaker's line-up for the year-to-date thanks to the strong reception from Brazilian consumers for the new model while the Palio (84,823) is still second with the Siena (72,031) third. These three models account for the bulk of the brand's sales for the year-to-date with the remainder being niche entries: the Punto (19,693) and Palio Weekend (19,606) are almost level pegging before the Idea (13,399), Linea (6,397), Doblò (5,253) and Stilo (4,488) round matters out.