There were no bright spots at all as all three of the Fiat Group Automobiles (FGA) brands saw their market shares contract sharply as the Italian carmaker continued to underperform the overall market as it has done so for several months. Fiat Group has been particularly affected by the slowdown in its domestic market following the ending of government "eco" incentives that favoured its product mix, as well as sharp falls in Germany.

According to the Brussels-based automotive manufacturer body ACEA consumer purchases of new cars slumped over the summer, down 17.9 percent year-on-year during July and down 12.1 percent in August (EU27+EFTA), continuing the downward trend shown in the second quarter of 2010. Eight months into the year, new cars in the EU27 total 9,021,703 units, or 3.5 percent less than over the same period a year ago.

In July, a double-digit contraction occurred in the main new car markets, ranging from -12.8 percent in France to -13.2 percent in the UK, -24.1 percent in Spain, -25.7 percent in Italy and -30.2 percent in Germany. Overall, 1,032,893 new cars were registered, or 18.6% less than in July last year. In August, as in July, France (-7.9 percent), the UK (-17.5 percent), Italy (-19.3 percent), Spain (-23.8 percent) and Germany (-27.0 percent) all recorded a considerable downturn. Traditionally a month with lower registration levels, August recorded a total of 701,710 new car registrations (-12.9 percent). From January to August in the most significant markets, France (+2.0 percent), the UK (+13.2 percent) and Spain (+21.9 percent) expanded, while Italy (-2.5 percent) and Germany (-28.7 percent) contracted. The steepest fall was noted in Bulgaria (-39.1 percent) and the highest increase in Ireland (+49.6 percent).

The Fiat Group saw 80,626 registrations during July across Europe (EU27+EFTA) which was almost forty thousand units less than the same month last year and equated to a 31.1 percent year-on-year decline while its market share tumbled from 9.0 to 7.5 percent year-on-year. During August, a traditionally very quiet month for car sales in Italy, Fiat Group saw 46,899 registrations across Europe, and when compared to 61,587 during August 2009, this added up to a 23.8 percent year-on-year fall meaning its market share dropped from 7.4 to 6.4 percent year-on-year.

Splitting the FGA brands up, Fiat Automobiles saw its sales slide up a third during July (62,001 units, -33.3 percent) and by a quarter in August (36,918 units, -25.8 percent) and this led to a sharp contraction in its share of the European market: down from 7.1 to 5.8 percent year-on-year in July and from 6.0 to 5.0 percent last month. Lancia lost a third of its sales year-on-year in both July and August, 8,339 units (-33.6 percent) in the former month and 3,805 units (-33.6 percent) during the latter month, clearly emphasising the overreliance that Fiat Group places on its domestic market for all the FGA brands but in particular Lancia, and it meant that Lancia's European market share for July was down from 1.0 to 0.8 percent year-on-year while last month it dropped from 0.7 to 0.5 percent. Alfa Romeo was the rosiest performer from the FGA stable, thanks to demand for the new Giulietta wiping out falls across right its established models; the sports brand delivered 9,534 cars during July which left it down a market-beating 12.2 percent year-on-year while during August a total of 5,919 units left it up 1.9 percent. That meant Alfa Romeo's European market share was up from 0.8 to 0.9 percent year-on-year during July and up from 0.7 to 0.8 percent during August. Of the Fiat Group's luxury/performance brands, Ferrari and Maserati, a combined total of 752 cars registered during July was up a healthy 15.9 percent year-on-year while August was more flat, 257 cars adding up to a fall of 6.5 percent.

After the first eight months of the year Fiat Group has 735,353 registrations across Europe (EU27+EFTA) and when compared to 851,813 units sold during the same period last year that adds up to a fall of 13.7 percent leaving it as the worst performer amongst the major brands in Europe. Only Toyota, on significantly less sales has a worse record in the top-ten this year; the Japanese leader is down 14.4 percent year-on-year for the year-to-date. The Fiat Group's market share thus drops from 8.9 to 7.9 percent year-on-year for the year-to-date. By comparison Europe's biggest carmaker, VW Group, is down 3.6 percent and has almost breached the 2 million unit sales threshold while the second biggest player, PSA Peugeot-Citroën is still positive (+1.9 percent) as is the third placed group, Renault (+13.4 percent). Between Renault and Fiat both the U.S. carmakers are down for the year-to-date: GM loses 9.7 percent while Ford, shorn of all its niche brands now, drops 7.8 percent.

For the year-to-date the Fiat Automobiles' brand is the worst year-on-year performer for FGA: at 589,189 units sold in eight months its is down one hundred thousand units and 14.7 percent year-on-year for the year-to-date and it means its market share has slid from 7.2 to 6.3 percent for the periods. Lancia is on 72,921 units for the year-to-date, down 9.3 percent which means its market share stays steady at 0.8 percent while Alfa Romeo's 68,472 units is down 9.9 percent but its market share slips slightly from 0.8 to 0.7 percent. Ferrari and Maserati have a combined 4,771 units for the year-to-date which is virtually flat on the same eight month period last year (+2.1 percent).