Fiat Group Automobiles
(FGA) continued to suffer sharply crumbling sales in
Germany through September: the Fiat brand was the big
loser in volume terms, losing almost half its sales
year-on-year, while Alfa Romeo and Lancia both gave up
much ground, according to data released by automotive
body KBA. There were no crumbs of comfort for FGA
at all as the overall German new car market was down
17.8 percent to 259,748 vehicles in September as the
ending in the spring of government sponsored 'eco'
incentive schemes continues to keep consumers away from
the showrooms and the market on its steep downward path.
With a total 6,521 new
cars registered in Germany in July by Fiat Automobiles
that equated to a 45.7 percent year-on-year fall and
shrank its market share for the month just gone down to
2.5 percent. It left Fiat Automobiles, already regarded
as the market's biggest showroom discounter, as one of
the two worst performing volume brands in Germany for
September, in fact only Japanese carmaker Honda suffered
any more: it was down 49.2 percent year-on-year last
month off the back of 2,403 units. The main winners in
September this year were mostly the losers at the same
point last year and they included the three domestic
prestige brands: Audi, Mercedes-Benz and BMW, all were
in positive territory.
There was little joy
at FGA's Alfa Romeo division either, its 865 units tally
for the month just gone in Germany left the 'sports'
brand down 13.8 percent year-on-year and with a slender
0.3 percent market share, although it did comfortably
outperform the overall market's drop of 17.8 percent.
Lancia's performance last month in Germany was nothing
less than shocking: with just 98 units sold it
registered less cars than any other volume brand on the
market as recorded and announced by KBA, and with
its engine range this month being cannibalised by the
onset of Euro 5 legislation there is little prospect
that its fortunes can improve much in the short term.
For the first three
quarters of the year the German new car market has
amassed a total of 2,166,852 registrations and is down
more than a quarter on the same period last year (-27.5
percent). Fiat Automobiles' fall for the same period is
nearly double that experienced by the overall market, it
is down 55 percent year-on-year for the year-to-date on
the back of 62,386 units. Fiat's market share now stands
at 2.9 percent of all new car sales in Germany so far
this year. Fiat is the clear volume loser for the
year-to-date, the next worst performers are Suzuki
(-52.8 percent) and Toyota (-49.6 percent).
Alfa Romeo, which has
seen sales of its niche models dry up and the B-segment
MiTo slow down, is now being counterbalanced by the
arrival of the 5-door Giulietta hatchback; however it
has 5,995 registrations for the year-to-date and that
adds up to a 39.5 percent year-on-year fall and gives it
a market share of 0.3 percent for the first eight months
of the year. Lancia has managed to sell just 1,126 cars
in Germany so far this year, a fall of 61.7 percent
year-on-year, leaving it as the smallest volume brand on
this market for the year-to-date.
The Chrysler Group,
now 20 percent owned by Fiat Group, also saw its German
sales slide downwards once more last month, albeit by
9.2 percent, half the market's overall decline. However
it has little further to fall as its three brands
(Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep) managed to shift a combined
total of 463 cars. For the year-to-date the Chrysler
Group has a combined total of 4,762 registrations, down
24.2 percent, to give it a 0.2 percent share of the
market for the eight month period.
