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ALFA ROMEO GIULIETTA MULTIAIR TCT - 2010 PARIS MOTOR SHOW

The new Alfa Romeo Giulietta (top, making its debut with the new TCT transmission at the Paris Motor Show last week) was one of the brightest performers for FGA in Italy last month; the California (middle) continues to lead out Ferrari's Italian sales; meanwhile the Doblò (bottom) along with its smaller sister the Qubo locked out the "Multispace" category for Fiat last month.

The Fiat Group saw its sales slump once again in Italy last month as domestic customers continued to shun its products amidst a sharply falling market, and the carmaker lost more than a quarter of its sales year-on-year and saw its market share slump to just 28.64 percent. Range rationalisation brought on by the onset of Euro 5 has hit sales but most worryingly for the Italian firm was that its main volume generator, the Fiat Automobiles brand, continued to plummet as it has done throughout the summer and its decline was almost 10 percentage points worse than the overall market's fall during September.

According to automotive trade body UNRAE, 154,429 new passenger vehicles were sold in Italy last month which was down more than 35,000 units on the same period last year (190,389 units in September 2009) which added up to a decline of 18.89 percent. The Fiat Group saw a total of 44,225 registrations last month on its home market, down more than fifteen thousand units on the same month last year (59,990 in September 2009) and that meant a deep sales decline of more than a quarter (-26.28 percent) and a contraction in its overall market share from 31.51 to 28.64 percent year-on-year.

FGA is now suffering from being somewhat less prepared than many other of its major rivals by the arrival of mandatory Euro 5 legislation and this has seen its model ranges being rationalised in recent months with an array of engines getting the chop meaning the carmaker is unable to offer the depth to match many of its competitors. New engine options are within the product pipeline however and Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne wasn't overly concerned by the data. "The figures were completely in line with expectations," Marchionne told Reuters on the sidelines of a conference in Florence today. "The market is looking for stability, and until the process of getting supply and demand into line is completed, we will continue to suffer." He added that lower range models were feeling the most impact and noted: "We'll probably have to wait until 2011 to see a pick-up in demand."

Splitting the Fiat Group Automobiles (FGA) brand portfolio up, Fiat Automobiles saw 33,420 units registered last month and that was more than twelve thousand units down on the same month last year (45,880 units in September 2009), making it Italy's big volume loser, down 27.16 percent year-on-year, and taking its market share sharply south: from 24.10 percent last September to 21.64 percent for the month just gone. Lancia's sales also tanked, its total sales of 6,042 units was down more than a third on the same month last year (9,388 units in September 2009) to add up to a 35.64 percent year-on-year fall and that resulted in its market share sliding from 4.93 to 3.91 percent year-on-year. Driven by demand for the new Giulietta, which has instantly become a major contender in the vital C-segment, however, meant that Alfa Romeo ensured it wasn't all gloom at FGA, and its 4,699 units last month was up a few hundred on last September's total of 4,666 meaning that it comfortably outperformed the overall market and its market share climbed from 2.45 to 3.04 percent year-on-year.

Of the Fiat Group's luxury/performance car brands, Ferrari and Maserati, the former sold 32 cars in Italy last month, up 18.52 percent year-on-year, while the latter also sold 32 cars, up 10.34 percent year-on-year. Ferrari's best-selling model for the month of September was the California (20) while for the Trident brand the GranTurismo (21) and Quattroporte (10) made up the bulk of sales as the GranCabrio continues to struggle to find its feet.

For the year-to-date a grand total of 1,542,433 cars have been sold in Italy, seventy thousand units less than the same period last year and that adds up to a fall of 4.35 percent. The Fiat Group however has seen its sales fall at nearly three times the overall market's rate, its 471,204 units for the year-to-date compared to 536,259 units during the same nine month period last year adds up to a fall of 12.13 percent and its market share for the first three quarters of the year thus declines from 33.25 to 30.55 percent year-on-year. The Fiat brand has 360,958 registrations for the year-to-date and is down 13.17 percent on the same period last year meaning its market share has slipped from 25.78 to 23.40 percent; Lancia is on 69,862 units for the year-to-date, down 8.12 percent and showing a corresponding 4.71 to 4.53 percent fall in market share for the nine month period, while Alfa Romeo is on 39,369 units after nine months, down 9.46 percent, and its overall Italian market share is down from 2.70 to 2.55 percent for the year-to-date.

For the niche luxury brands, Ferrari is on a very solid 604 cars for the year-to-date, up 11.65 percent year-on-year, while Maserati has unfortunately been unable to ride the recent resurgence in demand for high-end cars and is rooted on 411 units, almost a hundred less than it sold last year during the first three quarters of last year, and that adds up to a 18.29 percent fall. Maranello's main sellers for the year-to-date have been the California (329) and the 458 Italia (201) while Modena's most in demand model in the GranTurismo (206).

Elsewhere, Chrysler Group which is 20 percent owned by Fiat Group saw its sales rise last month in Italy, 523 units combined across its three brands was up 21.06 percent year-on-year. Split up, the Chrysler brand sold 80 cars (+73.91 percent) while Dodge's 275 (+59.88 percent) also left it well into positive territory, leaving Jeep 168 units (-21.50 percent) as the only laggard. For the year-to-date the Chrysler Group is on 6,265 registrations in Italy, down 12.57 percent on the same period last year while its brands have had mixed performances for the period: Chrysler's 1,111 units leave it in positive territory (+7,55 percent) while Dodge (2,407 units; -26.55 percent) and Jeep (2,747 units; -3.82 percent) are both fallers, although the latter beats the overall market.

FGA can look to a top-three best sellers lock-out for September in Italy as positive news as the Fiat 500 (6,476) drove its way past the Ford Fiesta (6,110) to line-up behind the market's regular top-two: the Fiat Punto (10,771), adding together sales of the Punto Classic, Grande Punto and Punto EVO, while the Fiat Panda (10,014) was a very close second. The other FGA model to make it into the Italian top-ten best sellers for September was Lancia's Ypsilon (3,527) which, despite its ever increasing age, locked down eighth spot. For the year-to-date the Punto is the clear top-seller on the market and now stands at 123,484 units, with the Panda (107,778) in second, the 500 (55,641) in fourth and the Ypsilon (35,638) in ninth being FGA's other representatives in the top-ten for the opening nine months of the year. However the Punto, despite a comprehensive mid-life restyling last autumn, is ten thousand units down on the same period last year, the Panda is twenty thousand units adrift and the 500 is eight thousand units shy of last year's tally for the first three quarters.

The Punto was Italy's best-selling diesel in September with 5,145 unit sales specified as oil burners while the story is the same for the year-to-date, the Punto diesel range massing 40,807 sales. Amongst LPG powered cars the Punto (712) slumped down to seventh place last month with the Panda (827) three places to the better as the only other FGA model in the top-ten. The best selling LPG car last month on the Italian market was the Opel Corsa (882) a hair's breadth ahead of its sister, the Meriva (875). For the year-to-date the Fiesta (30,206) is the top-selling LPG car, with the Punto (25,829) second, the Panda (12,294) in fifth and the Ypsilon (7,940) in tenth. However amongst methane powered vehicles the Fiat brand had three of the top-four sellers last month with the Panda (1,365), Punto (426) and Fiat Multipla (268) making it a clean sweep of the top-three with the Fiat Qubo (124) coming home fifth and the Doblò (30) in eighth.

In the segments the Panda and 500 easily held the top two positions in A-segment last month and the Punto was clear in B-segment. Alfa Romeo's MiTo is one of the brand's many models to be struggling to find buyers this year: 1,689 units of the Punto-based hatchback were registered in September compared to 2,343 during the same month last year; however 21,685 units for the year-to-date leaves the hatchback still very close to the same period last year. In C-segment the new Alfa Romeo Giulietta continues to make its presence felt and with 2,129 units sold last month it was the fourth best-seller; meanwhile Fiat's Bravo continues its recent steep decline in demand, 2,083 units placing it sixth. Lancia's Delta (1,169) fell out of the top-ten, in part being squeezed for C-segment market space by the arrival of the Giulietta. The segment's best seller as has been the norm for sometime is VW's Golf which, with 4,021 registrations, left its rivals trailing: the Opel Astra (2,304) and Ford Focus (2,284) occupying the ground between the German car and Alfa Romeo's new hatchback. For the year-to-date the Golf (41,420) has strangled the segment, with the Bravo (20,885) in fifth and having lost a third of its sales year-on-year, while the Delta (13,910) is ninth and two-and-a-half thousand units adrift of the the same nine month period last year. FGA has almost vacated D-segment, the collapse in the Alfa 159's sales left the Fiat Croma (703) as the only representative in the class in ninth place last month while neither the 159 or Croma can crack the top-ten for the year-to-date. The Croma was however the sixth best selling station wagon in Italy last month.

Amongst the compact MPVs the Multipla (468) continues to hold up very well in sixth place for the month and for the year-to-date it has 7,175 sales which is up on the same period last year. In the class reserved for small MPVs the Lancia Musa's long run of dominance has come to an abrupt end this summer and it is now being battered by Opel's new Meriva. The Meriva took 1,747 sales in September to top the category while the Musa saw its own sales crumble by more than a half: 1,233 last month compared to 3,031 during the same period last year. The Musa's Fiat badged sister, the Idea added 511 units last month, leaving it only mildly down year-on-year. For the year-to-date the Musa (19,366) comfortably leads out the small MPV category and it still has nearly double the sales of the Meriva (11,254) while the Idea (4,393) is seventh. In "Multispace" the Qubo (850) and Doblò (508) as ever held onto the top-two spots and it is the same story for the year-to-date as they have 13,832 and 5,107 registrations respectively.

Of other minor Italian players, DR Motor, which assembles SUVs and small cars from Chinese carmaker Chery's portfolio saw its sales jump in September: 233 units for the month versus 89 units during the same month a year ago put it up 161.80 percent year-on-year; while for the year-to-date the picture is also quite promising: 3,353 units is almost double what it managed during the same nine month period last year (1,709 units for Jan-Sep 2009) and that added up to a rise of 96.20 percent year-on-year. Its Italian market share for the year-to-date doubles from 0.11 to 0.22 percent year-on-year. It wasn't anything like as rosy at Audi-owned Lamborghini brand which continues its recent almost total exit from its domestic market: after selling no cars at all in Augus it managed to find a single buyer during September, and compared to 19 units shifted during the same month a year ago, that added up to a year-on-year fall of 94.74 percent. For the year-to-date the Sant'Agata Bolognese-based sports car maker is on just 70 units in its home market almost half that it managed during the same period a year ago when luxury brands were suffering from the effects of the global financial crisis and it hasn't seen any effects in Italy at least of the recent bounce in demand for high-end cars.