03.08.2012 FIAT GROUP SEES SALES FALL A FIFTH IN ITALY DURING JULY MIRRORING THE MARKET

FIAT 500L
FIAT 500L
FIAT 500L
FIAT 500L
FIAT 500L

The Fiat brand is the big volume loser from FGA for the year-to-date, its 192,114 units is down forty eight thousand units and 20.04 percent; however that closely matches the overall market's performance and it remains unchanged with a 20.84 percent share of all sales. Fiat will be hoping for a fillip when the forthcoming 500L (above) starts arriving in the showrooms.

Fiat Group has suffered another month of sharply declining sales in Italy, they were down 20.96 percent year-on-year in July after volumes dropped to 33,106 units; that performance mirrored the overall market which was down 21.39 percent compared to the same month last year.

In total 108,826 new cars were sold in Italy last month, a drop of thirty thousand units when compared to July 2011. The Fiat Group's 20.96 percent fall slightly outperformed the overall market and its share for July thus rose from 30.25 percent last year to 30.42 percent this year, which also, significantly, kept its share above the 30 percent threshold.

The Fiat brand was down 16.65 percent year-on-year to 23,954 units while its market share climbed quarter of a percentage point to 22.01 percent.

Lancia had an unusually difficult July and its 5,368 units was down 27.26 percent and to give it a market share of 4.93 percent. Alfa Romeo also continued its year long struggles, its 3,258 units was down 32.60 percent year-on-year and its market share dropped to 2.99 percent. Jeep was the biggest loser for Fiat Group Automobiles (FGA) during and its 488 units represented a 40.12 percent fall. The Fiat Group's two luxury/performance brands also suffered, Ferrari was down 64.62 percent in July to 23 units while Maserati plunged 72.22 units to 15.

For the year-to-date 923,729 new cars have been sold in Italy, down 19.87 year-on-year. Fiat Group has 273,996 registrations so far this year, a fall of seventy thousand units and 20.18 percent on the same seven month period of last year.

The Fiat brand is the big volume loser from FGA for the year-to-date, its 192,114 units is down forty eight thousand units and 20.04 percent; however that closely matches the overall market's performance and it remains unchanged with a 20.84 percent share of all sales. Lancia is down 12.85 percent to 48,506 units for the year-to-date which comfortably outperforms the overall market and its year-to-date share of sales climbs from 4.83 percent last year to 5.25 percent this year. Alfa Romeo is having a torrid year and its 28,785 units sold after seven months is down 31.44 percent while its market share is down half a point to 3.12 percent. Jeep is slightly negative, down 5.33 percent to 4,315 units while Ferrari drops 57.75 percent to 199 units and Maserati fades 75.40 percent to just 77 units.

The Fiat Panda was Italy's best selling car last month with 8,897 examples sold while the second placed Fiat Punto slipped to 6,352 units. The Fiat 500 (4,153) made it an all top three for the Fiat brand while Lancia's Ypsilon (3,445) in fifth place made it four out of the top five for FGA. The Alfa Romeo Giulietta (2,404) in ninth was the final FGA representative in the Italian top ten for July. Amongst diesel cars the Punto (2,122) was narrowly beaten to the top spot by VW's Golf.

For the year-to-date the Panda (74,400) is comfortably Italy's best selling car ahead of the Punto (55,045) with the Ypsilon (30,977) third and the 500 (29,038) in fourth. The Giulietta (29,234) is the ninth best seller and the final FGA representative in the top ten. The Punto (18,303) is the best selling oil burner for the year-to-date, four hundred units ahead of the Golf.

Amongst the segments, last month the Panda and 500 led out A-segment as usual with the former up one and a half thousand units versus July 2011 while the latter was down by a similar amount. For the year-to-date the Panda has ridden out the market turmoil and is up one and a half thousand units while the 500 hasn't been so lucky, its sales have slumped by thirteen thousand units. In B-segment the Punto was the easy winner, but its hasty MY2012 styling refresh hasn't helped and sales in July fell by nearly four thousand units year-on-year to 6,370. For the year-to-date the picture is as bleak for Fiat's most important model, it's down twenty five thousand units already on the same period last year. The Ypsilon was third last month in B-segment, but it saw the first major signs of the new model effect wearing off as its sales dropped a significant two thousand units to 3,446 although the model remains relatively flat for the year-to-date. Matter however are much worse for the MiTo, its sales halved in July to only 769 units and for the year-to-date they are also down by nearly a half to 7,662.

In C-segment the Giulietta added 2,404 sales to come second behind the Golf (2,633), both were down on last year, the Giulietta shedding six hundred sales. For the year-to-date the Giulietta is on 20,241 sales, down four and a half thousand units on the same period last year and just under three thousand adrift of the Golf. In D-segment the Fiat Freemont topped the class in July with 1,471 sales, down five hundred units year-on-year while for the year-to-date it is on 9,715 units, second in the class to VW's Tiguan (10,364). In E-segment the Jeep Grand Cherokee (138) was sixth for the month and it is sixth for the year on 1,315 sales; there was no place as usual in the category top ten for Lancia's rebadged Chrysler 300. In F-segment meanwhile the Ferrari 458 Italia (18) and the Maserati GranTurismo (11) were fifth and seventh respectively although both saw their sales half, while for the year-to-date only the 458 Italia makes the F-segment top ten, on 126 units, not far off half its sales for the same seven month period last year.

Elsewhere, Lancia's Musa continues to turn in an excellent last gasp of life, 1,051 sales last month was up a hundred units year-on-year and allowed it to top the category reserved for small MPVs, comfortably ahead of the Opel Meriva (907). For the year-to-date the Musa is on 8,978 units to top the class just ahead of the Meriva (8,568). The Musa is three thousand units shy of last year's sales for the year-to-date. Lancia's attempts to rebadge Chrysler Group models continue to flop as amongst large MPVs the Voyager (Chrysler Town & Country) added just 103 units last month to finish fifth in class; it has 955 sales for the year-to-date.

Finally, in Multispazio the Fiat Qubo led out sales for the month just gone, its 1,095 units was a hundred ahead of the same month last year while the Fiat Doblò was second, but its 313 units represented a year-on-year dip (452 units in July 2011). For the year-to-date the Qubo has ridden out the market slump to be flat on 7,375 units while the Doblò has shed two thousand sales to rest on 2,406.
 

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