Fiat has started the new year
in Italy just as it finished the old one, losing sales
and underperforming the market: 48,045 units registered
during January equated to a 27.72 percent year-on-year
fall and left it lagging the overall market which fell
by a fifth. According to data released by Italian
automotive body UNRAE, a total of 164,356 cars
were registered in Italy during January which was down
20.70 percent compared to the same month a year ago
(207,266 units in January 2010) when the effects of the
state-sponsored 'scrappage's scheme were still in full
swing.The Fiat
Group's sales total of 48,045 units last month compared
unfavourably to January last year when it shifted 66,469
cars and resulted in a year-on-year decline of more than
a quarter, and as a result, its market share dropped
from 32.07 to 29.23 percent year-on-year for the month.
However Fiat was less than a percentage point adrift of
the psychologically important 30 percent threshold.
The Fiat Automobiles
brand was January's big loser from the Fiat Group
Automobiles (FGA) portfolio, it sold 34,307 units last
month, compared to 52,218 units in January 2010, which
left it down by more than a third year-on-year (-34.20
percent). As a result Fiat's market share dropped
sharply from 25.19 to 20.87 percent year-on-year.
Lancia's fall during
January mirrored the overall market's decline: its 7,042
units, compared to 9,005 units during the same month a
year ago, left it down 21.80 percent year-on-year and
its overall market share very slightly down
year-on-year: a 4.28 percent stake for January versus
4.34 percent for the same month a year ago. Alfa Romeo
had a very strong month and thus helped keep the overall
picture more respectable for FGA as it shifted 6,569
cars, and, driven by demand for the new C-segment
Giulietta which accounted for more than four thousand of
those sales, the 'sports' brand was up 28.58 percent
year-on-year (5,109 units in January 2010). That meant
Alfa Romeo's Italian market share shot up from 2.46 to
4.00 percent year-on-year for the first month of 2011.
Of the Fiat Group's niche performance/luxury brands,
Ferrari sold 95 cars in January, almost unchanged
year-on-year (-3.06 percent), while Maserati ended
January with 32 sales (-17.95 percent).
The Fiat Punto
(including the Grande Punto and Punto Evo combined) was
the best selling car in Italy during January, 13,157
sales leaving it comfortably more than three thousand
units ahead of the second placed Fiat Panda (9,966). The
Fiat 500 (5,384) was edged out of fourth place by VW's
Golf to leave it as the fifth highest selling car of the
opening month of the year while the sixth placed
Giulietta and the seventh placed Lancia Ypsilon (3,979)
made it a strong five FGA models in the January top ten.
The Punto (5,693) was also the top selling diesel in
Italy during January ahead of the Giulietta (3,072) in
second place while the Fiat Bravo (1,930) in eighth
place was FGA's final representative in the top-ten.
The Chrysler Group,
now 25 percent owned by the Fiat Group, ended January
with 598 sales in Italy, flat on the same month a year
ago (-1.64 percent). That worked out as 102 vehicles for
the Chrysler brand, putting it down more than a quarter
(-28.17 percent) year-on-year and a mere 23 units for
Dodge (-82.44 percent), which is fading out of the
market, but a sharp rise to 475 units for Jeep (+41.19
percent).
Elsewhere VW-owned
Lamborghini had a good month by its recent dismal
Italian sales standards, it sold 9 of its sports cars
during January, down 35.72 percent year-on-year, and for
a countback of the last 12 months it has sold 96 cars in
its home market. DR Motor, which assembles selected
models from China's Chery Automobile in Italy from CKD
kits, continued to outperform the market: 547 cars sold
last month, compared to 409 in January 2010, was up
33.74 percent year-on-year.
