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Alfa Romeo, driven by demand for the new C-segment Giulietta (above) which accounted for almost half its volumes in August and made up for the sharp drop off in demand for almost all its other models, sold 2,083 cars during August and this left it almost flat year-on-year (-1.79 percent) but comfortably outperforming the overall market.

The Fiat Group saw new its registrations slide once again on its home market last month losing more than a quarter year-on-year and underperforming the overall market which also lost ground in August, shedding just under a fifth of sales. Since government "eco" subsidies ended in the spring the Italian new car market has lost considerable ground and, according to automotive body UNRAE, 68,718 new cars were registered in Italy during August (a traditionally quiet month) compared to 85,123 units during the same period last year which added up to a fall of 19.27 percent year-on-year.

During August the Fiat Group saw 21,101 new registrations in Italy, which was down 7,000 units and 26.34 percent year-on-year (28,645 units during August 2009) and its market share correspondingly fell from 33.65 to 30.71 percent year-on-year; however after dipping to 29.19 percent in July this meant its share was back above the important 30 percent threshold again. The Fiat brand saw 15,873 registrations in August and that was more than 5,000 down on the same month last year and this added up to a fall of 27.75 percent year-on-year and a contraction of its share of all sales in Italy for the month from 25.81 to 23.10 percent. Lancia's 3,109 units during August was one-and-a-half-thousand units and 31.32 percent down year-on-year, making it the worst year-on-year performer in the Fiat Group Automobiles (FGA) stable and its market share correspondingly slipped from 5.32 to 4.52 percent year-on-year. Alfa Romeo, driven by growing demand for the new C-segment Giulietta which accounted for almost half its volumes and made up for the sharp drop off in interest for almost all its other models, sold 2,083 cars during August and this left it almost flat year-on-year (-1.79 percent) but comfortably outperforming the overall market. It's market share thus climbed by more than half a percentage point from 2.49 to 3.03 percent year-on-year. Of the Fiat Group's niche luxury/performance brands, Ferrari sold 17 cars during August (led out by seven units of the 458 Italia which has been subject to a recall this week) and that was up 112.50 percent year-on-year while Maserati was almost unchanged with 19 cars registered when compared to 20 during the same month a year ago (its best-seller was the GranTurismo on 10 units).

After the first eight months of the year the Fiat Group has seen a total of 426,681 registrations compared to 476,270 during the same period last year, down 10.41 percent, and its market share for the year-to-date has now slipped from 33.49 to 30.77 percent year-on-year. The Fiat brand accounts for 327,279 units of that total and is down 11.50 percent year-on-year, while its market share contracts from 26.00 to 23.60 percent. Lancia is on 63,800 units after eight months and is the softest faller from FGA thanks to a very strong start to the year, it is now down 4.27 percent year-on-year for the year-to-date while its market share has hardly moved: moving from 4.69 to 4.60 percent. Alfa Romeo has started to recover ground thanks to the new Giulietta's arrival in the showrooms and its 34,652 units for the January to August inclusive period is down 10.70 percent while its market share is down from 2.73 to 2.50 percent year-on-year for the year-to-date.

The Fiat Punto (including Punto Classic, Grande Punto and Punto EVO combined) was the best-selling car in Italy during August, its 5,083 sales putting it ahead of the Fiat Panda's tally of 4,877 units while Ford's Fiesta (3,129) split the Panda from the fourth placed Fiat 500 (2,703). The Lancia Ypsilon (1,649) in eighth place made it four FGA models in the Italian top-ten best sellers for the month of August. For the year-to-date the Punto (112,667) leads the way ahead of the Panda (97,715) with the 500 (49,226) in fourth and the Ypsilon (32,103) in ninth. The Punto was Italy's best-selling diesel during August (2,167) and it occupies the top spot for the oil burners for the year-to-date (35,640). Amongst LPG-powered cars the Punto (359) and Panda (316) were in fourth and fifth place for the month of August while these two also locked out the top-two spots in the category reserved for methane-powered cars, with 587 and 181 registrations respectively, during the same period with Fiat's Multipla (141) making it a methane top-three for FGA.

In A-segment the Panda and 500 comfortably took out the top-two spots while the aged Fiat Seicento (533) made a reappearance in the top-ten, and in B-segment the Punto and Ypsilon held the first and sixth best-selling sports while the Alfa MiTo (682), which has been one of several FGA losers from the ending of state "eco" incentives, dropped out of the top-ten during August although it hangs onto tenth place for the year-to-date in the supermini segment with 19,222 registrations, just a couple of hundred units down on the same eight month period last year. In C-segment the Giulietta accounted for 967 registrations in August, almost half the brand's sales for the month, putting it in third place behind the VW Golf (1,587) and Nissan Qashqai (1,132), while fifth and sixth place went to the Fiat Bravo (744) and Lancia Delta (681) respectively. For the year-to-date the Bravo (18,778) and Delta (12,741) occupy fifth and eighth spots in C-segment while the volume leader is the Golf (37,418). In D-segment the only FGA model to trouble the top-ten last month was Fiat's Croma (277) in tenth slot and it is outside the top-ten for the year-to-date (although it was the fourth best-selling station wagon in Italy last month) as is the Alfa Romeo 159.

Amongst the niche categories Lancia's Musa (734) was the second best-seller in the class reserved for the small MPVs during August, pipped once again by Opel's new Meriva (772) although for the year-to-date the Musa (18,128) is still the runaway class leader with double the sales of the Meriva, and in the category for large MPVs Lancia's Phedra (45) occupied second place last month. Alfa Romeo's pretty Bertone-designed GT Coupé (47) forced its way back into the coupé top-ten in seventh place during August thanks to a highly specified anniversary edition now on sale while another Alfa Romeo coupé, the Brera, failed to make the August top-ten but has reached 605 units for the year-to-date, very slightly up on what the Giugiaro-penned sports car managed during the same opening eight month period of last year. The Fiat 500C (207) led the cabriolet class in Italy for August with more than three times the registrations of its closest rival, the soft-top MINI, and it is a very similar story for the year-to-date at the top of the class as the 500C stands clear on 3,165 units. In "Multispace" Fiat Qubo (426) was the best-seller as usual but surprisingly its sister the Fiat Doblò (191) was squeezed down into an uncharacteristically lowly fourth place by Peugeot's Bipper (214) and Partner (194). For the year-to-date the Qubo is the untroubled category leader with 12,958 registrations while the Doblò remains in a clear second place with 4,575 units.

Elsewhere the Chrysler Group enjoyed a 32.66 percent year-on-year increase in registrations during August although this was on the back of a combined total of just 329 sales across its three brands and having seen all demand for its products collapse over the last year and a half it has little other direction to take. The Chrysler Group picked up less than half of one percent of all Italian new vehicle sales during August (0.48 percent). Splitting the divisions up the Chrysler brand saw 40 sales (+11.11 percent) during August, Dodge weighed in with the best volume, albeit just 162 units (+35.00 percent) while Jeep added 127 units (+38.04 percent). For the year-to-date the Chrysler Group is on 5,737 sales, down almost exactly 1,000 units on the same eight month period of last year (-14.79 percent) and its market share has slipped from 0.47 to 0.41 percent. For the year-to-date Chrysler has sold 1,029 cars in Italy, Dodge is on 2,132 units and Jeep 2,576 units. The niche national brands turned in a mixed August: DR Motor sold 113 cars which was up more than a third year on year (+37.80 percent) while Lamborghini failed to find a single buyer for its sports cars (although this actually was only a single registration down on the same month last year) and for the year-to-date it continues to find its home market tough going, just 69 units is down 40.52 percent year-on-year.