In total the Fiat Group sold 42.587 new cars in Italy during September and when compared to 44,409 units in the same period last year that added up to a small decline of 4.1 percent. It did however outperform the market and thus meant the Group's market share for September rose to 29.09 percent compared to 28.61 percent during the same month last year.

The Fiat brand continued to pull the carmaker downwards but orders for the Freemont minivan and a solid run for the outgoing Panda helped to stem its losses. However the arrival of the new Lancia Ypsilon is stripping some sales out of Fiat's 500. In total the Fiat brand sold 31,051 cars in Italy last month and when compared to 33.584 units during the same period last year, that was a fall of 7.54 percent. That meant though that its market share was only slightly down to 21.21 percent last month (21.63 percent in September 2010). Lancia, boosted by the new fourth generation Ypsilon, saw its September sales rise 20.9 percent to 7,319 units and its market share for the month rise from 3.9 to 5.0 percent for the month. Alfa Romeo, effectively with just two models now to sustain it, saw its September sales drop 11.43 percent to 4,168 units. Its Italian market share contracted from 3.03 to 2.85 percent. The Fiat Group's niche brands both lost ground last month: Ferrari's 29 units sold was down 9.38 percent year-on-year while Maserati's 20 units was down 39.39 percent.

After the first three quarters of the year, the Fiat Group has amassed 401,110 sales on its home market, down seventy thousand units and 14.93 percent on the same period last year; its year-to-date market share slips from 30.54 to 29.29 percent year-on-year. The Fiat brand is the big volume loser from Fiat Group Automobiles (FGA), and 285,989 units for the year-to-date is down by 20.83 percent. Lancia is on 66,070 units for the year-to-date, down 5.46 percent year-on-year, and its market share stands at 20.88 for the nine month period. Alfa Romeo is now on 48,190 units sold in Italy so far this year, up 22.37 percent year-on-year to give it a 3.52 percent share of all sales. Ferrari meanwhile has 516 registrations (-14.99 percent) and Maserati has 345 (-16.46 percent).

The outgoing Fiat Panda (10,426 units) was Italy's best selling car last month, just ahead of the Fiat Punto (10,183). Lancia's new Ypsilon (5,577) was the third best seller in September while the Fiat 500 (4,101) in fifth made it four FGA models in the Italian top-five. Alfa Romeo's Giulietta (2,590) was the final FGA representative in the top-ten, grabbing the last slot. For the year-to-date the Punto (97,041) is the top-seller in Italy ahead of the Panda (87,778) with the 500 (49,229) fourth, the Ypsilon (41,111) fifth and the Giulietta (28,537) in tenth. The Punto was also Italy's best-selling diesel model in September with 4,566 specified by customers as oil burners while this version also occupies the top spot for the year-to-date with 41,792 registrations.

Amongst the segments, in A-segment the Panda and 500 occupied the top two slots and it was a similar story in B-segment where the Punto and Ypsilon locked out the opposition. Alfa Romeo's MiTo however continues to struggle, it couldn't make the B-segment's top ten best sellers last month and its 1,093 sales was in fact down a third on last year while for the year-to-date its 15,401 sales is down a quarter on the same nine month period last year. In C-segment the Giulietta was second to VW's Golf (3,381) while the Fiat Bravo (1,401) held on in the top-ten, in ninth place; the Bravo now has 16,497 registrations for the year-to-date. In D-segment the Fiat's rebadged Dodge Journey minivan, the Freemont (1,941) topped the class (it was also the market's second best selling "crossover" behind Nissan's Qashqai) while in F-segment, Ferrari's new FF (12) and Maserati's GranTurismo (9) were the only representatives of the Fiat Group's niche luxury/performance brands in the top ten, in seventh and tenth place respectively.

Elsewhere, in Fuoristrada, the Fiat Sedici (1,039) topped the class and was more than a hundred units clear of the BMW X3, while amongst the small MPVs the ageing Lancia Musa (728) and its platform sister, the Fiat Idea (649), were the third and fifth best sellers. In the class reserved for convertibles, the Fiat 500C's showroom woes accelerate, just 94 examples of the electric roll roof version were registered last month, and for the year-to-date it is on 3,142 units. Finally in Multispace the Fiat Qubo (771) and Fiat Doblò (322) were untroubled at the top, and its the same for the year-to-date, they have 9,023 and 5,070 sales respectively.