The Fiat brand underperformed
the UK new car market last month to lose a quarter of its sales year-on-year,
however Alfa Romeo was one of the big winners as its registrations climbed 125
percent during April. According to industry body SMMT a total of 137,746
cars were sold in the UK in April and when compared to 138,793 units during the
same month a year ago that was a fall of 7.42 percent.
The Fiat brand continued its losing run in the UK during April: 2,941 cars
registered compared to 4,020 in the same month a year ago was down 26.84
percent. As a result Fiat's market share for the month dropped from 2.70 to just
2.14 percent year-on-year. However Fiat's fall wasn't the worst performance from
the major volume brands in the UK last month as faring worse were Mazda (-42.28
percent), Volvo (-35.48 percent), Kia (-30.36 percent), Renault (-29.93 percent)
and Peugeot (-28.80 percent).
While Fiat continues to fade in a market that was once considered important to
its strategy, Alfa Romeo continues to pick itself up and 1,313 cars registered
last month compared to 584 during the same month a year ago was up a massive
124.83 percent. That means Alfa Romeo's UK market share for the month just gone
jumped from 0.39 percent last April to almost one percent (0.95 percent) for the
month just gone.
If Infiniti's 309.09 percent
sales rise on the back of just 45 units is discounted, then Alfa Romeo was also
the market's best performer in year-on-year terms. The next best in these terms
were Saab (+101.23 percent) and Lexus (+86.46 percent). Also putting into
context the decline of the Fiat brand in the UK, niche-focused Alfa Romeo sold
just under one car last month for every two that Fiat sold.
Fiat's low volume brands, Abarth and Maserati, were both down year-on-year in
April. The Scorpion sold 108 cars, down from 135 during the same month a year
ago, a drop of one-fifth, and its market share for the month thus slipped very
slightly from 0.09 to 0.08 percent year-on-year; meanwhile the Trident's 32 cars
sold in April compared to 46 units in the same period a year ago was down by
nearly one-third (-30.46 percent).
The two remaining Chrysler Group brands - the Dodge division has now quitted the
UK market - had a mixed month: Jeep's 150 units, compared to 107 during April
2010, put it up 40.19 percent year-on-year and its market share up from 0.07 to
0.11 percent for the period, while the Chrysler brand shifted 18 cars, and, when
compared to 128 during the same month last year, that was down 85.94 percent.
For the year-to-date the UK market had seen 696,082 registrations, down 8.45
percent year-on-year. The Fiat brand's year-to-date performance closely mirrors
its decline last month, and with 15,281 units registered so far this year that
is more than five thousand units down on the same period of 2010, a fall of
25.29 percent. Consequently Fiat's UK market share for the year-to-date slips
from 2.69 to 2.20 percent year-on-year. The other big volume losers in the UK
for the year-to-date are made up of Renault (-32.24 percent), Mazda (-31.53
percent), Kia (-29.30 percent), Hyundai (-26.89 percent) and Volvo (-23.12
percent).
Alfa Romeo continues to head north in the UK and after the first four months of
this year it's on a healthy 4,461 registrations, nearly two thousand units ahead
of last year's tally for this period of 2,546 units. That means its market share
for the year-to-date climbs from 0.33 to 0.46 percent year-on-year. Alfa Romeo
is also amongst the best performing brands in the UK so far this year, behind
only Infiniti (+360 percent on the back of 138 units) and Saab (+77.74 percent;
2,867 units) year-on-year.
The Italian carmaker's niche brands in the UK are relatively flat year-on-year:
Abarth is on 509 units down 14 on the opening four months of last year (-2.68
percent) to keep it's market share unchanged at 0.07 percent, while Maserati is
on 141 units, exactly the same as it sold during the opening third of last year.
For the opening four months of the year the Jeep brand is on 609 units
registered in the UK and when compared to 925 units for the same period last
year that is a fall of a third (-34.16 percent) and its market share for the
period slips from 0.12 to 0.09 percent year-on-year. The Chrysler brand
meanwhile is on 217 units for the year-to-date and with 526 cars sold during the
same period last year that is a fall of 58.75 percent.
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