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The UK has
joined the other major European new car markets in
providing bleak sales news for Fiat Automobiles in July, the
Italian brand
seeing it's sales shrink by nearly one-third, almost
treble the market's decline.
While the Fiat brand has
seen consumers shunning it's products in it's key
Italian and German markets since "eco-incentives" were
wound down in the spring, the Italian brand has been
able to ride an improving UK market which, somewhat
unexpectedly, reversed it's run of twelve consecutive
months of gains during July and with 136,446
registrations last month the UK was more than twenty
thousand units and 13.17 percent down on the same month
last year, reports SMMT.
Fiat Automobiles however suffered far more than the
overall market's reverse, its 3,576 units in July was more than
one-and-a-half thousand units down on the same month a
year ago and added up to a 31.44 percent year-on-year
fall in demand. It's market share for the month
correspondingly fell from 3.32 to 2.62 percent.
The picture
though for Fiat Group Automobiles (FGA) UK was even more
difficult at its Alfa Romeo division: 515 units registered in July
compared to 901 during the same month of last year added up
to a collapse in sales of close to a half (-42.84
percent). The niche sports Abarth division however
provided a brighter prospect for FGA, it's 124
registrations last month versus 90 units during the same
period a year ago left it up a healthy 37.78 percent
year-on-year against a falling market.
New
car registrations in the UK remain up 163,004 units, or
15.1 percent, over the first seven months of 2010, and for
the year-to-date last month's slump doesn't eat into
Fiat Automobiles' positive year-on-year picture and with
33,448 registrations compared to 27,556 for the same
period a year ago it is up 21.38 percent and it's share
of all sales in the UK for the seven month period is up
from 2.55 to 2.69 percent. Alfa Romeo's performance
after the first seven months of the year is however much
less rosy, and with 4,351 units, it's down just under
ten percent (-9.60 percent) and it's market share for
the year-to-date slips from 0.44 to 0.35 percent. Abarth
meanwhile has 859 sales so far this year, versus 702 for
the corresponding period last year, and is thus up 22.36
percent year-on-year.
Alternatively fuelled vehicles (AFV) and diesel-fuelled cars
both achieved record market shares in July, with AFV volumes rising by 52.6
percent to take a 1.4 percent market share and diesel volumes up 11.8 percent to
take a market share of 50.6 percent. Petrol car registrations, which had
benefitted most from the scrappage scheme, were down sharply. MPV and dual
purpose (SUV) segments rose accounting for one in eight new cars registered in
July, whilst supermini and mini segment volumes fell sharply. The Ford Fiesta
was the UK's best selling model in July, as it was over the year-to-date.
During July, Chrysler Group, 20 percent owned by Fiat Group, suffered it's usual
torrid time in the UK although in reality it's sales are now merely at a nominal
level with all three of it's brands not even close to reaching three digit sales
last month. Jeep achieved the highest volumes during July, albeit shifting just
71 units, and with a year-on-year decline of 26.04 percent it had the softest
landing. The Chrysler brand, which the U.S. carmaker hopes to keep on the UK
market, was the next best in volumes terms although that was with a dismal 68
units meaning that it lost more than two-thirds of it's sales year-on-year
(-68.08 percent). Dodge meanwhile moved 58 cars in July and compared to the same
month last year it was down a whopping 78.99 percent. For the year-to-date all
three Chrysler brands have completely missed the market's ascent and are mired
in negative territory: Chrysler has sold 867 cars (-31.89 percent) during the
first seven months of the year, Dodge has managed 508 (-58.80 percent) and Jeep
is on 1,199 and relatively flat on the same period last year (-0.66 percent).
The 2010 new car market is forecast to total 2.018 million units, 1.2
percent above the
2009 market, according to SMMT. Whilst stable over the full year, volumes
are expected to fall by some 15 percent over the remainder of 2010. The outlook
is difficult to predict, adds SMMT, due to uncertainty over the state of
the economy, impact of VAT changes at the start of 2011, levels of pent-up
business demand and manufacturers’ ability to build on the past growth momentum.
“A drop in private registrations compared to the scrappage-fuelled months of
2009 was expected and has brought the first market decline for 12 months,” said
Paul Everitt, SMMT chief executive. “Subdued consumer confidence and a
still fragile economic recovery make the outlook for the remainder of 2010
challenging, but a stronger than expected first half means full year volumes are
still forecast to exceed 2009’s total.”
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