A total of 69,165 cars and light commercial vehicles combined sold during December kept Fiat at the top of the tree as it also celebrated thirty five years in Brazil. For the full year of 2011, Fiat sold 754,276 vehicles in Brazil and that was fifty five thousand clear of its closest rival, and a 22 percent market share.

In the passenger car segment a total of 251,606 units where sold in Brazil last month, down 12.7 percent on December 2010's tally. Fiat Automóveis notched up 56,165 sales last month, down eight thousand units and 12.6 percent year-on-year which matched the overall market's performance. It was however up three thousand units and 7.2 percent in month-on-month terms as Fiat sold 53,008 cars in November.

As ever Fiat Automóveis' closest rival last month was VW which finished December on 55,093 units (-14.7 percent) while the other two key players also followed the market down: GM lost 16.1 percent off the back of 51,173 sales while Ford dropped 21.4 percent after shifting 22,282 cars. Against November VW was up 8.2 percent, GM was up 8.4 percent and Ford up 3.4 percent.

For the full year of 2011 a total of 2,647,250 new cars have been sold in Brazil, flat on 2010 (+0.1 percent). Fiat, with 596,860 units sold last year, has only slightly underperformed the overall market, losing just over fourteen thousand units and 2.4 percent when compared to 2010.

That performance meant that Fiat ended the year as the top seller in the passenger car segment, more than five thousand units clear of VW which sold 592,038 cars during 2011 in Brazil. The Uno drove Fiat's performance with 272,859 sold during the year (new and old model sales combined). The market's top two were very evenly matched versus their 2010 performances as VW was down 2.2 percent year-on-year. Third placed GM sold 561,732 cars, it was down 5.8 percent year-on-year.

Amongst LCVs a total of 77,582 units were sold last month, up 6.0 percent year-on-year. Fiat Automóveis ruled the roost in December although its 13,000 units significantly underperformed the overall market, down two thousand units and 14.2 percent on the final month of 2010.

That also underperformed its rivals as VW's 10,230 units in December was up 8.6 percent on the same period the year before, while GM also missed the market trend, its 9,770 units was down 2.9 percent. Mitsubishi, Ford and Toyota were next up, all three sold just over six thousand LCVs each in Brazil last month. In month-on-month terms Fiat was 2.0 percent down for December, as it had sold 13,270 units in November, while VW was up 5.1 percent and GM almost flat (+0.6 percent).

For the full year of 2011 a total of 778,424 new LCVs were sold in Brazil, a healthy rise of 13.8 percent. Fiat sold 157,415 LCVs last year on this market, up eight thousand units and a 5.5 percent rise, but that underperformed the overall market. The Strada was Fiat's LCV winner as ever with 118,620 sold last year, while 13,486 sales for the Ducato kept it at the top of the class for large vans. VW was a distant second for the full year just gone with 112,825 LCV registrations, although it outperformed the overall market's rise with a strong 17.2 percent jump in sales. GM was the only other brand to sell three figures worth of LCVs in 2011, but its 102,984 units, although up six thousand units on 2010's total was, at up 7.3 percent, not far off half the overall LCV market's rise.