During November 2017, registrations of new passenger cars in the EU totalled 1,216,702 units. Demand increased by 5.9% compared to the same month last year, mostly driven by the fact that there was one extra working day this November. Nearly all major EU markets performed well: Spain (+12.4%) and France (+10.3%) posted double-digit growth, followed by Germany (+9.4%) and Italy (+6.8%). The UK car market, however, contracted for the eighth consecutive month, with registrations falling by 11.2% in November.

Eleven months into the year, the European new car market continued its positive momentum (+4.1%), counting more than 14 million new passenger cars registered. Among the five big markets, Italy (+8.7%) and Spain (+7.8%) recorded the strongest gains, followed by France (+5.3%) and Germany (+3.0%). By contrast, car demand in the United Kingdom decreased by 5.0% so far in 2017.

During November FCA missed the market’s (FCA data is counted for EU and EFTA countries) positive 5.3% gain, it fell by 0.9% to 74,568 units as the group saw its total market share contract from 6.3% to 5.9% year-on-year. FCA’s picture was a little mixed but it registered gains for the month in Germany (+6.3%), France (+9.3%) and Spain (+15.3%).

The Fiat brand dragged FCA down, it’s 51,767 units sold was 6.8% down year-on-year and as a consequence its share for the month slipped by a chunky 0.6% to 4.1%. The Panda and 500 were bright spots though as they dominated Europe’s A-segment sales once again in November and held a combined 29.3% segment share. The C-segment Tipo also posted positive results, with its November sales up 3.1% year-over-year. During November, brand Fiat brand did enjoy a few positive markets and was up by 1.1% in Germany, 8.9% in France, and 12.8% in Spain.

While Fiat brand suffered last month, Alfa Romeo by contrast saw its sales jump by 23% to 7,528 units, driven by the D-segment Giulia sedan, up 7.6% year-over-year, and the new Stelvio SUV, which is top in its segment in Italy (with a 16.4% share) to help offset declining demand for the C-segment Giulietta. That meant Alfa Romeo saw its total market share edge up to 0.6% for the month just gone.

There were positive stories on the major markets as in Germany Alfa Romeo saw its sales shoot up by 43.9% during November, while France it was up 2.8%, in the UK up 20.7% and in Spain up 4.7%.

Lancia, now an Italian market only brand, saw its sales slump by 11.8% to 3,922 units during November, to take a 0.3% share of total European sales for the month, while FCA’s Jeep brand added 10,668 units to be the group’s best performer of the month, up 27.6%, with a market share of 0.8%.

For the year-to-date in Europe (EU + EFTA) though the picture is much rosier as FCA’s 964,846 units sold represents a 6.6% rise and a 6.7% market share, outperforming the overall market’s 4% gains.

The Fiat brand, with 726,199 sales for the year-to-date, is up 6.2% and takes a 5.2% share of sales. For the year-to-date, Fiat’s winners have been a 6.0% rise in sales in Italy, 11.6% up in Germany, 11.4% up in France and 14.4% up in Spain.

Meanwhile Alfa Romeo leads out the positive picture for FCA’s niche brands portfolio, up 30.7% to 76,713 units. In Germany Alfa Romeo’s sales are up 48.7% for the year-to-date while in France they’re up 28.8%, in the UK they’re up 2.3% year-to-date and in Spain they’re up 32.2%.

Lancia is FCA’s only brand in Europe in negative territory for the year-to-date, down 8% to 57,628 units as it relies solely on the ageing Ypsilon. However, the supermini continued to defy its late lifecycle positioning and it’s one of the best-selling vehicles in Italy and the leader in the Italian B-segment for the year-to-date.

Meanwhile, the Jeep brand is marginally up, by 2.6%, to a total of 96,077 units for the year-to-date, it’s total driven by the Renegade and Compass models. Sales of the Renegade totalled 5,800 units in November and 68,000 for the year-to-date, while sales of the Compass totalled nearly 3,200 vehicles during November and it’s on just under 12,400 units year-to-date.