The Fiat Group is
continuing to see it's sales slide on its domestic
market, during February the national carmaker posted
losses of 27.06 percent year-on-year after selling
45,618 cars. That was significantly worse than the
overall market which shed a fifth (-20.49 percent) after
160,329 cars in total were sold in Italy last month
compared to 201,641 during the same period last year,
according to data released by automotive trade body
UNRAE.
With 45,618 registrations last month the Fiat Group was
seventeen thousand units adrift of the same month last
year (it sold 62,538 units in February 2010) and that
kept its market share well below the thirty percent
threshold (28.45 percent) while during last January's
scrappage-fuelled month it took a 31.01 percent slice of
all Italian sales.
The Fiat brand continues to be the market's biggest
volume loser, its 31,979 units sold last month when
compared to 48,412 units during the same period last
year was a fall of a third (-33.94 percent) and a drop
of more than sixteen thousand units. As well as the end
of the government subsidies the Fiat brand is being
hampered by a weak midlife facelift for it's biggest
selling model, the Punto Evo, an aging model range, and
a lack of preparation for the mandatory onset of Euro 5
legislation which has rationalised its model ranges. The
Fiat brand's market share also dropped below the twenty
percent threshold in February (19.95 percent) which was
a year-on-year decline of four percentage points.
Lancia's February sales also fell, they dropped by more
than a fifth (-21.91 percent) to 7,286 units, down just
over two thousand units on the same month last year.
Lancia has been hit by the arrival of a strong
competitor to it's ageing Musa which has stripped sales
away from this long-running success story, although the
Ypsilon continues to show amazing resilience, and
despite being based on the first-generation Punto and
its successor making its public debut in Geneva
yesterday, the supermini was Italy's sixth best-selling
car for the month just gone with four thousand sales.
It wasn't all doom and gloom at Fiat Group Automobiles
(FGA) last month as Alfa Romeo continued to post
year-on-year gains. It was up by a third (+33.26
percent) and one and a half thousand sales, to round out
the month on 6,262 units. That performance
comprehensively outperformed the overall falling market
which allowed Alfa Romeo to improve it's market share
for the month just gone from 2.33 to 3.91 percent.
The Fiat Group's niche performance/luxury brands enjoyed
a mixed month: Ferrari's 60 units but the Maranello
sports car maker up 11.11 percent over February last
year while Maserati sold 31 cars and was down 27.91
percent year-on-year.
After the first two months of the year a total of
325,279 cars have been sold in Italy, down 20.45 percent
on the same period last year. The Fiat Group is on
93,766 units for the year-to-date, a shortfall of more
than thirty five thousand units on the same two month
period last year when it sold 129,008 cars, which all
adds up to a year-on-year fall of 27.32 percent. That
means that the Italian carmaker's market share for the
year-to-date stands at 28.83 percent compared to 31.55
percent for the opening two months of last year.
The Fiat brand has been particularly hard hit, with
66,377 registrations for the year-to-date it is down a
massive thirty four thousand units on the same two
months last year, a real collapse in sales of a third
(-34.04 percent). The Fiat brand's share of all sales in
Italy for the year to date now hovers close to the
twenty percent threshold (20.41 percent) which is a
significant erosion of its position when compared to the
same two months last year when it collected a 24.65
percent share of all registrations.
Lancia's year-to-date position almost exactly mirrors
its performance for the month just gone as after the
opening two months of the year it is down by 21.82
percent. For the year-to-date Lancia has notched up
14,235 sales compared to 18,336 during the same period
last year. Lancia's decline almost matches the overall
market and its share of all registrations for the
year-to-date is almost unchanged, slipping from 4.48 to
4.41 percent.
Alfa Romeo starts the year in an unusual position under
Fiat Group ownership, it's strongly up year-on-year,
although the erosion of the brand by Fiat's management
in recent years has left it with little elsewhere to go
but upwards and the arrival of the new Giulietta has
finally provided it with a model to generate some vital
momentum, although curiously its sales month-on-month
dropped during February. After the first two months of
the year Alfa Romeo has 12,836 sales and when compared
to 9,808 units during the same period last year that is
a rise of nearly one-third (+30.87 percent). That
significantly outperforms the overall market and means
its market share for the year-to-date climbs from 2.46
to 3.95 percent. The Group's niche brands are both
positive for the year-to-date: Ferrari has a total of
155 sales and is up 1.97 percent while Maserati's 63
units is an improvement of 23.17 percent.
Elsewhere Lamborghini continues to struggle to persuade
Italians to buy its sports cars and 4 sales last month
was down 73.33 percent year-on- year. For the
year-to-date Lamborghini has sold 13 cars, less than
half of what it managed during the opening two months of
last year (-55.17 percent). DR Motor, which builds
selected Chery models in Italy from CKD kits, has seen a
strong run come to an end as 394 sales last month was
15.27 percent down on the same month last year when it
sold 465 cars. However for the year-to-date it is on 942
cars, and that is up 164 units on the same period last
year.
Chrysler Group enjoyed a more promising month for once,
its 619 sales combined across its three brands -
Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep - came in at 619 units for
February and when compared to 702 units during the same
month last year that was down 11.82 percent. However
Dodge has been withdrawn from the market and accounted
for just 2 units sales in February. Stripping Dodge out
the Chrysler brand sold 78 cars and was down 23.53
percent while Jeep's 539 sales was up a decent 46.87
percent.
The Fiat Punto (10,709)
was Italy's best selling car during February, one and a
half thousand units ahead of its smaller brand sister,
the Panda (9,385). The 500 (6,180) came next to make it
three Fiat's in the top three while Lancia's Ypsilon
(4,090) in sixth and Alfa Romeo's Giulietta (3,700) in
eighth impressively gave half the Italian top-ten for
February over to FGA models for the second consecutive
month. For the year-to-date the Punto (23,892) is the
best selling car in Italy with the Panda (19,368)
second, the 500 (11,566) fourth, the Ypsilon (8,073)
sixth and the Giulietta (7,754) seventh. FGA also had a
strong month amongst the diesel specification cars, the
Punto (4,481) was the top-selling oil burner followed by
the Giulietta (2,726) in second, the Fiat Bravo (2,640)
in fourth and the Panda (1,946) in tenth. For the
year-to-date the Punto (10,187) tops the diesel sales
stakes with the Giulietta (2,726) in second, the Bravo
(5,800) in fifth and the Panda (4,575) in seventh.
