April saw a contraction of the major markets, except for Germany (+2.6 percent), leading to an overall 4.1 percent downturn. Demand was down 2.2 percent in Italy, 7.4 percent in the UK, 11.1 percent in France and 23.3 percent in Spain. Germany was the biggest market with 266,251 new registrations, followed by France (169,757), Italy (157,309), the UK (137,746) and Spain (71,808).

Fiat was the sixth placed carmaking group in Europe for the month of April; last year it was fifth in the same period ahead of Ford but while both groups declined last month, the Italian company fell further allowing the U.S. firm to leapfrog it. At the top to the tree in Europe last month was VW (+3.7 percent) while the two French volume carmakers, PSA Peugeot-Citroën (-17.9 percent) and Renault (-12.6 percent) were next up but right amongst the biggest losers for the month. Fourth and fifth places went to the two U.S. manufacturers: GM (+0.6 percent) and Ford (-3.0 percent). Behind Fiat the remainder of the nine key players was made up of BMW (+5.0 percent), Daimler (-1.9 percent) and Toyota (-0.1 percent). Other big losers amongst more niche carmaker's were Honda (-34.0 percent), Mazda (-25.1 percent), Chrysler (-27.2 percent) and Jaguar Land Rover (-18.2 percent).

The Fiat brand continued to drag Fiat Group Automobiles (FGA) downwards as customers shun its aging product lineup and its traditional reliance on domestic sales to make up volumes are being hit by a home market downturn. Its 60,933 sales last month was a drop of ten thousand units (71,484 units in April 2010), a fall of 14.8 percent. Consequently its European market share declined from 6.1 to 5.4 percent year-on-year.

Alfa Romeo however provided some much needed black ink at FGA as its 12,650 units registered last month compared to 7,821 units during the same month a year ago equated to a rise of nearly five thousand units and a 61.67 percent rise for the period. Lancia once again joined Fiat in going the wrong way, its 8,098 units in April was down one thousand units year-on-year and a fall of 11.9 percent. Fiat's two luxury/performance brands, Ferrari and Maserati, sold a combined 634 units for the month just gone and when compared to 777 units in April 2010 that was a fall of more than a quarter (-27.2 percent).

After the first four months of the year the Fiat Group has notched up a total of 346,310 registrations, seventy thousand units and 16.6 percent down year-on-year for the year-to-date. Last year the Italian carmaker was on 415,172 units at this point meaning that it remains unchallenged as Europe's worst performer for the year-to-date amongst its major peers. The other losers in the top nine are led out by Ford (-11.3 percent) and completed by PSA Peugeot-Citroën (8.4 percent), Renault (8.1 percent) and Toyota (-3.0 percent). The Fiat Group's European market share for the year-to-date thus slides from 8.4 to 7.2 percent for the year-to-date.

From January to April, growth prevailed in two thirds of the markets in Europe but the downturn recorded in the UK (-8.5 percent), Italy (-19.0 percent) and Spain (-26.3 percent) resulted in a 2.4 percent decline in demand. Germany, the largest market, registered over 1 million units in the first four months of 2011, or 10.7 percent more than in the same period last year, followed by France with 817,211 new cars (+4.0 percent).

The Fiat brand continues to be the main culprit for FGA and its 257,361 registrations for the year-to-date compared to 335,344 during January to April 2010 leave it down 23.3 percent year-on-year for the periods and its market share consequently dropping from 6.8 to 5.3 percent. Alfa Romeo however is a very different story, it has made gains all year thanks to the Giulietta's strong reception with customers and 52,617 units for the year-to-date is up by almost exactly a half (+52.2 percent) year-on-year and its market share climbs 0.4 percent to 1.1 percent. Lancia is also a loser for the first third of the year: 33,959 units is down a fifth year-on-year and its market share drops by 0.2 percent to 0.7 percent. The niche brands, Ferrari and Maserati, have a combined 9,989 sales for the year-to-date and compared to 14,810 during the same period last year, that is a fall of 32.6 percent.

At the bottom of the pile the Chrysler Group was Europe's worst performer for the month of April and the year-to-date. The Chrysler Group also remains clear at the bottom of the tree, only residing in the tables above the "others" catchall, and last month 2,534 cars registered was down more than a quarter year-on-year (-27.2 percent) to give it a 0.2 percent share of all European sales for the month. The U.S. carmaker is however mostly reliant now on the Jeep division's sales as the Dodge brand has been withdrawn from all markets and the Chrysler nameplate now only nominally exists in two markets: the UK and Republic of Ireland. For the year-to-date the Chrysler Group hasn't yet broken the ten thousand unit barrier: 9,989 units registered so far this year is down 32.6 percent to push its market share down to 0.2 percent year-on-year.