At a group level, Fiat slid 17.06 percent, which represented a loss of 8,322 units compared to the equivalent period last year.  In market share terms, Fiat Group remained relatively flat, coming in at 29.51 percent, compared to 29.55 percent in January 2011. The result means Fiat maintains market share at the level where it ended last year – across the whole of 2011, the group’s market share was 29.50 percent.

For a change, the Fiat brand did not represent the biggest problem for Fiat Group Automobiles (FGA). The dubious honour of worst performer went instead to Alfa Romeo, which slid 33.30 percent year-on-year. That translated into a decline of 2,189 units, from 6,574 in January 2011 to 4,385 last month, and left its market share at 3.20 percent (down from 3.98). The volume Fiat brand’s sales declined 17.66 percent year-on-year, only marginally more than the overall market decline of 16.93 percent.  This left the Fiat brand market share at 20.67 percent, down from 20.86 percent year-on-year. However, while the decline was roughly in-line with the overall market’s, it nevertheless represented a substantial hit in overall registration numbers – total units declined by 6,080, from 34,429 to 28,349. A relatively bright spot was to be found in the performance of the Lancia brand, powered by the new Ypsilon. Although it declined 2.39 percent overall (6,982 registrations compared to 7,153 in January 2011), the brand handily outperformed the overall market, boosting market share from 4.33 to 5.09 percent.

With the benefit of a brand-new model arriving in showrooms this month, Fiat’s A-segment Panda replaced the Punto as Italy’s best-selling model. It notched 10,448 registrations, an incremental improvement over January 2011’s figure of 10,058. Indeed, FGA models swept the top four positions in the market overall, with the Panda heading the Punto, Ypsilon and 500. The Punto was also the best-selling diesel car for the month.

However, this impressive headline masks serious shortcomings in volumes throughout the range. The most significant of these was for the core B-segment Punto. Despite an emergency facelift to correct the worst excesses of the aesthetically-challenging ‘Evo’, the Punto shed 4,638 units, a huge 35.10 percent decline year-on-year. Moreover, with its replacement not scheduled to appear until 2014, the Punto’s continual sales decline must be regarded as a significant area of concern for Fiat.

On the flipside, the Ypsilon recorded a relatively strong month, logging 5,143 units. This marked an improvement of 1,159 sales and 29.09 percent compared to the number of Ypsilons shifted in January 2011, although this is only to be expected as last year’s result was achieved by the aged and now-superseded model. It should also be pointed out that, while this month’s result was quite a good one for the Ypsilon in terms of recent history, it does not come close to meeting Fiat’s target, which is between 100,000 and 130,000 units a year. (While this is a Europe-wide figure, it is difficult to see this number being achieved, given that over 80 percent of Lancias are sold on the Italian market.)

Following a notable dip in volumes during December, the Fiat 500 recovered with 4,840 units registered throughout January. This represented a fall of 558 units and 10.34 percent year-on-year, marginally below the average A-segment drop of 11.67 percent. The Panda and 500 remained well clear of the third placegetter in A-segment, the Smart Fortwo, which recorded 1,938 registrations.

Elsewhere, however, it proved a difficult month for Fiat in most volume segments. Having dropped to ninth in the off-roader category in December, the Fiat Sedici dropped out of the segment top 10 altogether in January. Having shifted 685 units 12 months ago, the total number of Sedici sales is unclear, but cannot have exceeded 400. The result comes as Fiat released the results of a review of future investments, which revealed the next-generation Sedici would not be launched until 2014, meaning the current model must soldier on for at least another two years. The same review also elected to extend production of the Lancia Musa mini-MPV, sales of which dropped 774 units, or 52.44 percent, year-on-year. (Overall, the mini-MPV segment dropped 34.81 percent.)  The Musa’s stablemate, the Fiat Idea, shifted 567 units, shedding 155 registrations year-on-year.

In the ‘Multispace’ category, the Fiat Doblò recovered somewhat from the fivefold fall in year-on-year sales it suffered during December.  It shifted 301 units, a decline of 28.16 percent year-on-year, but enough to retain second place in the category – although Citroën’s Berlingo was just 61 units behind. As usual, Fiat’s Qubo comfortably claimed first place with 933 registrations, down just 24 units (2.51 percent) on last January.

While the Fiat 500 hatchback fared relatively well, it proved a dreadful month for the 500C convertible variant. Slippng to fourth in the cabrio segment, it notched just 60 registrations, down a massive 79.17 percent (228 units) year-on-year. Matters proved little better for the supposedly volume C-segment Bravo hatch, which dropped 53.16 percent compared to January 2011 (1,083 units, down from 2,312). As usual, the related Lancia Delta failed to trouble the segment top 10.

Elsewhere in C-segment, Alfa Romeo’s current mainstay, the Giulietta, maintained its usual second place in C-segment to Volkswagen’s Golf, and was the eighth-best-selling model overall. However, in a worrying sign, its unit registrations were also well down year-on-year – from 4,056 units in January 2011, it managed only 2,979 registrations last month. This represents a fall of 26.55 percent, notably higher than the 21 percent drop of C-segment as a whole. There was further bad news for the Milanese marque in B-segment, where the rapidly ageing MiTo’s sales collapsed 37.44 percent year-on-year, compared to 21.84 percent for the segment overall. Residual stocks of the discontinued 159 accounted for the remaining 143 units of the brand’s registrations. With no new models scheduled to hit the market for the remainder of the year, indications are that 2012 will prove a tough year for Alfa dealers.

In D-segment, the Fiat Freemont notched 1,396 registrations, finishing second to the Volkswagen Tiguan compact SUV. Fiat is targeting 20,000 Freemont sales annually in Italy, and a further 20,000 across other European markets. Placing fourth in the ‘large MPV’ segment, the Lancia Voyager shifted 146 units, compared to 92 units of the pre-facelift, Chrysler-badged Voyager registered in January 2011.

In E-segment, the new Lancia Thema continues to sell poorly, again failing to crack the segment top 10 and looking unlikely to hit its optimistic sales target of 15-20,000 units a year. With the tenth-placed Mercedes CLS recording 102 sales, it means the Thema’s registrations came in below this figure; indeed, the only time the Thema has figured in the monthly sales data has been its debut month on the market last October, when its total included an initial flurry of dealer registrations. The group’s sole representation in terms of top-ranked segment sellers came courtesy of the Jeep Grand Cherokee, which shifted 197 units to rank seventh. Indeed, Jeep had a good month overall, carrying over the strong gains from last year.  It increased 37.68 percent year-on-year, and improved its market share from 0.30 to 0.50 percent. This translated into a 188-unit increase in overall registrations, numbering 687 overall (these figures also include small remaining stocks of Dodge vehicles). 

Of the niche Fiat Group brands, Ferrari suffered a tough month, shifting only 26 458 Italias (compared to 55 last January), although this was sufficient to place it fourth in F-segment. The Prancing Horse also recorded 10 registrations for the new FF, but the marque’s California slid precipitously, falling out of the segment top 10 (from sixth place and 32 registrations last January). Maserati also struggled, with sales of the GranTurismo coupe dropping from 23 to just 8 year-on-year.

Overall, Ferrari dropped by 56.25 percent year-on-year, dropping from 96 registrations to 42. Figures were also down overall at Maserati, the Trident dropping to 18 units from 34, translating into a loss of 47.06 percent year-on-year. Lamborghini, meanwhile, lost a third of its meagre sales tally year-on-year, slipping from nine to six units. Finally, DR Motor saw a continuation of the recent collapse in demand for its CKD-assembled vehicles sourced from China’s Chery. Sales dropped 82.66 percent, from 548 registrations to just 95. It reduced DR Motor’s overall market share from 0.33 percent to just 0.07.