The Italian market saw 70,307 new cars sold last month. Meanwhile a total of 20,519 vehicles were sold in August by the Fiat Group which was down 3.22 percent (and underperforming the overall market which was up by 1.51 percent). That meant the domestic carmaker's market share for the month just gone slipped from 30.61 to 29.18 percent year-on-year.

The Fiat brand continues to pull the Fiat Group's sales downwards and with 14,648 registrations last month it lost 8.19 percent year-on-year. As a result Fiat's home market share dropped from 23.04 to 20.83 percent year-on-year. The "Giulietta effect" has also now worn off for Alfa Romeo and also shorn of a viable range it managed 2,031 registrations in Italy during August, down 2.68 percent year-on-year. It's August market share dropped from 3.01 percent (2010) to 2.89 percent (2011). Lancia, boosted by the arrival of the new fourth-generation Ypsilon, however, saw its Italian sales climb 22.18 percent year-on-year to 3,812 units while its market share rose sharply from 4.50 percent (2010) to 5.42 percent (2011). Last month Lancia in fact was not far off selling double the number of units of its sister FGA niche brand, Alfa Romeo. Of the Fiat Group's low-volume performance/luxury brands, Ferrari's 18 cars sold in August was mildly down by 11.11 percent while Maserati experienced a bigger slump, 12 units sold was down 42.86 percent.

For the year-to-date 1,222,431 new cars have been sold in Italy, down 11.96 percent year-on-year, while Fiat Group has sold 358,396 cars, down 16.09 percent on the same period last year. That underperforms the overall market and means that the carmaker's domestic market share drops from 30.76 to 29.32 percent year-on-year for the year-to-date. The Fiat brand sold 254,827 cars last month, down 22.22 percent, and as a result its market share for the year-to-date drops from 23.60 to 20.85 percent year-on-year. Lancia is on 58,741 cars for the year-to-date, down 7.98 percent while Alfa Romeo is up 26.94 percent at 44,017 units sold. Ferrari is on 486 cars for the year-to-date (-15.48 percent) and Maserati is on 325 units (-14.47 percent).

The Fiat Punto (5,240) was the best selling car in Italy last month ahead of the second-placed Fiat Panda (4,530); the former gets an MY upgrade this month while the latter is being replaced with a new model. Lancia's Ypsilon (3,056) was an impressive equal third last month with the Ford's Fiesta. The Fiat 500 (1,767) surprisingly dropped down to eighth place while the Alfa Romeo Giulietta dropped right out of the top-ten. For the year-to-date the Punto (86,751) leads the Panda (77,318) with the 500 (45,051) fourth, the Ypsilon (35,529) sixth and the Giulietta (25,946) tenth.

In A-segment the Panda and 500 ruled the roost last month, as is ever the case, while in B-segment the Punto was the clear winner, however, the Ypsilon had a good run and was the second best selling model amongst the supermini contenders. Alfa Romeo's MiTo (675) couldn't crack the B-segment top-ten last month; for the year-to-date it is on 14,302 units, more than five thousand down on the same period last year.