Fiat Group missed the
European market's 7.6 percent bounce in May to end the
month flat and as a result its market share slid by half
a percentage point to 7.3 percent. While Alfa Romeo saw
its sales surge by nearly two thirds and Lancia was
mildly positive, albeit underperforming the overall
market, the villain of the piece last month, as ever,
was Fiat Automobiles which continued to lose ground.
A total of 1,252,599 cars were sold in Europe also month according
to European automobile manufacturer body ACEA.
In total the Fiat Group recorded 90,820 registrations in
Europe last month, up 0.2 percent on the same month last
year when its cars found 90,669 customers. However in
May 2010 the Group's sales plummeted 22.3 percent so the
Italian carmaker hasn't made up any ground. That meant
its market share for the month fell from 7.8 to 7.3
percent year-on-year. While the Fiat Group has been
consistently the most shunned amongst the nine leading
groups in Europe over the last year in year-on-year
terms, it at least wasn't the the biggest offender in
May as both Toyota (-9.5 percent) and Renault (-8
percent) fared worse, although the latter has been hit
by supply chain issues following the Japanese tsunami.
Fiat was the sixth placed group on the market but lost
ground to its nearest rivals, ending up twenty thousand
units for the month behind GM and nine thousand units
adrift of Ford, the American duo occupying the fourth
and fifth slots.
The Fiat brand accounted for 68,139 registrations last
month, down five thousand units year-on-year (73,048
units in May 2010), a drop of 6.7 percent. It comes
against a drop the previous year of 22.4 percent.
Against a positive market backdrop that meant Fiat's
European share slid sharply from 6.3 to 5.4 percent
year-on-year. Fiat's improvement on its long, dismal run
has been helped by a steadying last month from its key
selling model, the Punto, thanks to the higher specified
MyLife version. According to industry research body JATO
Dynamics่, the Punto sold 20,577 units in Europe last
month, down just 3.8 percent year-on-year. That means
the Punto is on 102,053 units for the year-to-date, down
twenty five thousand on the same five months last year
as a weak mid life facelift continues to hinder its
consumer appeal and leave it well adrift of its peers.
On the back of a robust month in Italy Lancia's European
total for the month of May came to 9,189 units, which
left it slightly positive (+2.7 percent). However that
rise undershot the market and its share of the European
market slipped from 0.8 to 0.7 percent year-on-year.
Alfa Romeo was once again the star performer with the
Giulietta continuing to make an impact on most major
European markets, and 12,922 units sold during May was
up almost five thousand units on the equivalent month
last year when 8,028 units were sold. That equated to a
61 percent rise and helped Alfa Romeo's share of
European sales for the month to jump from 0.7 to 1.0
percent year-on-year.
The Fiat Group's niche brands, Ferrari and Maserati's,
sold a combined 570 cars in Europe last month, down 12.2
percent year-on-year. Meanwhile the Chrysler Group, now
majority owned by Fiat, saw combined registrations
across its three brands last month of 2,669 units, down
24.7 percent year-on-year, which reduced its market
share for the month from 0.3 to 0.2 percent
year-on-year. However the data is less meaningful as the
Dodge brand is being withdrawn from all European markets
and Chrysler is being pulled from mainland Europe,
although Fiat hopes to retain it in the UK and Ireland.
That means the bulk of Chrysler Group registrations for
May in Europe fall to the Jeep brand.
For the year-to-date the Fiat Group is on 437,341 units
in Europe down nearly seventy thousand units and 13.5
percent year-on-year. During the January to May period
last year the Fiat Group saw 505,837 registrations. By
contrast the overall European market has just breached
the six million barrier for the year-to-date and is flat
(-07 percent). It means that Fiat is untroubled in its
position as the worst performer amongst the big
carmaking group, and the only one to have a double digit
loss of sales so far this year. The other losers are
Renault (-8.1 percent), Ford (-7.3 percent) and Toyota
(-4 percent). In fact if every carmaker present in
Europe is taken into consideration, only Mazda (-21.4
percent) and Honda (-19.8 percent) have fared worse, as
of course has the Chrysler Group (-31 percent). It means
that for the year-to-date The Fiat Group's European
market share has dropped by more than a percentage point
to 7.2 percent.
Fiat Automobiles drives the Group downwards and its
325,627 units for the year so far is down more than
eighty thousand units and a fifth on the same period
last year when it amassed 408,589 sales, which means its
market share declines from 6.7 to 5.4 percent
year-on-year.
Lancia is also a big loser for the year-to-date as
43,160 units is more than eight thousand units and 16.6
percent down on the same period of last year when it
totted up 51,772 sales. Its market share for the
year-to-date is down from 0.8 to 0.7 percent
year-on-year. Alfa Romeo however provides some much
needed relief and its 65,557 units sold so far this year
is up twenty three thousand and by a half (+53.9
percent) when compared to 42,591 units during the same
period last year. Alfa Romeo's market share thus hikes
from 0.7 to 1.1 percent year-on-year for the
year-to-date.
Ferrari and Maserati have a combined 2,967 sales for the
year-to-date which is almost flat (-3.8 percent) but
undershoots the upward buying trend. Chrysler Group
meanwhile has 12,697 units for the year-to-date, and
when compared to 18,400 during the opening five months
of last year, that is a 31 percent decline.
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