The flailing Fiat brand posted a more reasonable month: 27,096 units sold in October compared to 28,638 in the same month a year ago was down just 5.38 percent, mirroring the overall market. It meant Fiat's share of the Italian market was almost flat year-on-year: 20.39 percent in 2010 versus 20.42 percent this year.

Lancia, boosted by the new Ypsilon plus dealer registrations of the Thema and Voyager, was FGA's big winner and 6,745 units last month compared to 5,668 during October 2010 was up one thousand units and 19 percent year-on-year. That raised Lancia's October market share from 4.04 percent (2010) to 5.08 percent (2011).

Alfa Romeo's traditional rollercoaster ride continues and it is now embarking on a downward trajectory as a year of gains, thanks to the new Giulietta, have evaporated. A sharp tailing off in demand for its other key model, the MiTo, contributed to sales of just 3,324 units last month and when compared to 4,348 units achieved in October 2010 that was a tumble of almost a quarter (-23.55 percent). Consequently Alfa Romeo's Italian market share for October dropped from 3.1 percent (2010) to 2.5 percent (2011).

Amongst the niche brands Jeep had a good month more than doubling it's sales to 700 units from 326 in October 2010 to take a 0.53 percent share of the market. The Fiat Group's two luxury/performance divisions, Ferrari and Maserati, both continue to struggle to connect with Italian buyers, the former's 23 units sold in October was down 17.86 percent year-on-year while the latter's 25 sales was a fall of 37.5 percent.

After the first ten months of the year, the Fiat Group has 445,758 registrations on its home market and when compared to 516,874 units during the same period last year that is a drop of 13.76 percent, not too far from the overall market's 10.76 percent fall for the year-to-date. Consequently the Fiat Group's Italian market share for the year-to-date stands at 29.66 percent compared to 30.69 during the same ten month period last year.

For the year-to-date the Fiat brand is on 313,169 sales, down 19.67 percent while its market share for the period slips from 23.15 percent last year to 20.84 percent this year. Alfa Romeo is up 17.81 percent for the first ten months of the year after registering 51,519 cars and its market share climbs from 2.60 to 4.89 percent for the period in year-on-year terms. Amongst the niche brands Ferrari has 539 sales and Maserati 453, that leaves them down 15.12 and 18.32 percent respectively for the year-to-date.

For September the outgoing Fiat Panda was Italy's best selling car with 9,210 examples sold. The Panda is imminently set to be replaced by an all-new model which debuted at the Frankfurt IAA in September. The Fiat Punto (8,716) was the second best seller while Lancia's new Ypsilon (4,932) made it three FGA models in the top three. With 3,905 sales last month the Fiat 500 was the market's fifth best seller and it meant that four out of Italy's five top sellers in October were from the domestic giant. That however wrapped up FGA representation in the top ten also as the Giulietta has seen its sales slipping recently and has vacated its top-ten position.

For the year-to-date the Punto (105,816) is clear as Italy's best selling car, with the Panda (97,040) second, the 500 (53,163) fourth and the Ypsilon (46,055) fifth. The Giulietta (30,651) is the final FGA representative in the top ten for the year-to-date, hanging on in tenth place with 30,651 sales in ten months.

In A-segment the Panda and 500 easily locked out the top two spots in October while in B-segment the Punto and Ypsilon replicated that achievement. The Alfa Romeo MiTo however continues to lose ground and no longer makes the B-segment top ten best sellers. MiTo sales dropped to 990 sales last month compared to 1,206 in October 2010. For the year-to-date it is on 16,391 examples sold compared to 22,825 during the same ten month period last year.

In C-segment the VW Golf (3,366) maintained its distance over the Giulietta. For the year to date the Golf (43,197) is around twelve thousand units ahead of the Giulietta. In D-segment the new Fiat Freemont (rebadged Dodge Journey) came out top with 1,469 sales in October and it is on 8,452 sales in total since it arrived on the Italian market in mid June. By contrast the second best seller in D-segment last month was the VW Passat with 1,277 registrations.

In E-segment the new Lancia Thema (Chrysler 300) made its debut in the best seller lists with 189 registered. In F-segment the only Italian built model to appear in the top-ten last month, in seventh place, was Maserati's GranTurismo with 16 registrations. For the year-to-date the Ferrari 458 Italia (253), GranTurismo (218) and Ferrari California (184) are the seventh, eighth and ninth best sellers respectively in F-segment.

In Furistrada the Fiat Sedici, which is set to benefit from the arrival of a new Model Year 2012 version in Italy this week, was the ninth best seller with 366 units (compared to 592 during the same month last year). Amongst small MPVs the Lancia Musa (673) was second to Opel's Meriva (1,219) but both have seen their sales decline significantly year-on-year: the Musa recorded 1,092 sales in October 2010 while the Meriva managed 2,035. However the new 5-door Ypsilon has been designed to also replace the Musa so it is absorbing some of its buyers. The Musa's sister model, Fiat's Idea continues to hold up well and 570 sales last month made it the category's fifth best seller while for the year-to-date it is on 5,075 registrations, seventh in the class. In the segment reserved for large MPVs the new Lancia Voyager (Chrysler Town & Country) made its mark for the first time with 142 registrations, the fourth highest in the segment.

Finally in Multispace Fiat's Qubo and Doblò both had a positive October, the former with 955 sales compared to 653 during October 2010 while the latter saw 429 sales last month compared to 363 during the same month a year ago. For the year-to-date the Qubo (9,979) has seen last year's total at this point of 14,486 dropping by a third, while the Doblò remains flat for the year-to-date: 5,518 this year so far versus 5,505 during the same nine months last year.