Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) turned in an unrewarding February on its home market, Italy, as its sales slumped by ten percent to 48,254 units, undershooting the overall Italian new car market which came in very slightly negative.
In total 181,734 cars were sold in Italy during the second month of this year, down a little under three thousand units and 1.42% year-on-year.
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles ended February with 48,254 units sold and when compared to 54,066 units during the same month last year that was a fall of 10.75% and as a result its market share dropped from 29.33% to 26.55% year-on-year.
As usual it was the Fiat brand that proved the laggard and its slumped six and a half thousand units year-on-year after shifting 32,409 cars last month, a year-on-year fall of 16.87%. as a result, its market share fell from 21.15% to 17.83% year-on-year. Fiat’s slump was mainly down to a big drop in sales for the top selling Panda model although the A-segment car comfortably retained its dominant leadership of the sales charts.
Alfa Romeo however helped to put a more positive sheen on matters as it climbed 18.60% year-on-year to 4,509 units to take a 2.48% share of the market although Lancia continued its loosing run, down 41.86% to 4,185 units.
Amongst the luxury niche brands, Maserati was up 13.14% to 267 units while Ferrari fell 11.76% to 30 units. Finally, for FCA, the Jeep brand was up 79.85% year-on-year to 6,854 units.
For the first two months of the year FCA has a total of 99,299 sales in Italy, down 5.22% against a market that’s almost flat (+0.99%) and again this can be attributed mainly to a steep decline in demand for the A-segment Panda. Splitting up the FCA brands for the year-to-date, Fiat is on 66,926 units, Alfa Romeo on 9,032 units and Lancia has 8,436 sales. Maserati meanwhile has 535 sales and finally Jeep is on 14,305 units.
Despite the Fiat brand’s slump last month, it was still able to provide the top four best-selling models in Italy led out as ever by the Panda which with 10,331 sales was more than double the volume of its closest rival, the Tipo (5,011 units). The 500, with 4,854 sales, came next while the 500X, with 4,839 units shifted, wrapped up the top four.
Fiat representation continued amongst the top ten selling cars with the 500L (4,406 units) in eighth, one place ahead of Lancia’s now quickly fading Ypsilon (4,185 units). A little outside the top ten came Jeep’s Compass (3,423 units) and Renegade (3,245 units) were the market’s sixteenth and seventeenth best sellers. Alfa Romeo’s top volume winner was the Giulietta (1,862 units) in twenty sixth place.
After the first two months of the year the Panda (21,577 units) is the clear number one best seller ahead of the 500X (10,580 units), the Tipo (10,228 units) and the 500 (10,118 units) with the Ypsilon (8,437 units) and 500L (8,327 units) in seventh and eight places making it six FCA models amongst the top ten best sellers for the year-to-date.
Splitting up the segments, in A-segment the Panda and 500 occupy the top two spots for February and for the year-to-date. The Panda though has seen its traditionally mammoth lead eroded and its sales are a whopping ten thousand units down when compared to the first two months of last year while the 500 remains relatively flat. The Panda was also the best-selling LPG car with 820 units specified in this format and the second best-selling methane powered car with 552 units developed for this fuel.
In B-segment the 500L was the third best seller for February, behind the Citroën C3 and VW Polo, although it’s almost a dead heat, while the Ypsilon came home very narrowly behind that trio. For the first two months of the year the 500L has lost a thousand sales year-on-year while the Ypsilon has lost four and a half thousand units.
The elderly Fiat Punto continues to hang on, it added 1,721 units last month to bring it to 3,509 units sold for the first two months of the year. The Punto also registered amongst methane powered cars with 221 units being specified in that format.
In C-segment the Tipo topped the category and had a very strong month, its sales up nearly one and a half thousand units year-on-year, while the 500X in second place was also up a few hundred units. Both models have done very well over the first two months of the year, the 500X is up nearly three thousand units year-on-year while the Tipo is up over two thousand units.
The 500X was also Italy’s best-selling crossover car last month well clear of Dacia’s Duster and was also the highest selling diesel, with 3,666 units being specified as oil burners.
Meanwhile the Tipo was the top selling station wagon with 1,758 units of its sales coming in that format and the fourth best-selling diesel, with the bulk of its sales, 3,176 units, being diesels. The Tipo also added 636 sales in LPG format to make it the sixth most popular car in this category.
Jeep’s Compass and Renegade were the sixth and seventh best sellers in C-segment last month while the Giulietta nabbed the last spot in the top ten, but it lost four hundred units year-on-year. For the year-to-date the Giulietta is on 3,844 units sold.
In D-segment the Alfa Romeo Stelvio is making good ground, the third best seller in the category with 1,194 sales and for the year-to-date it’s up to 2,237 units. However, its brand sister the Giulia continues to run out of steam, it added 774 sales last month up a dozen units year-on-year while after two months the sedan has notched up 1,545 sales. The Giulia was the ninth best-selling car in D-segment last month.
In E-segment Maserati’s Levante was slightly up on 180 units while for the year-to-date the luxury SUV’s on 301 units, its sales down a quarter over the first two months of last year. Jeep’s elderly Grand Cherokee added a further 92 sales in D-segment last month.
In E-segment Maserati’s Ghibli totted up 73 sales last month, its total after two months stands at 194 units, while the Quattroporte accounted for 9 sales. Ferrari’s 488 (coupé and convertible combined) meanwhile saw 19 sales in February to bring it to 44 for the year-to-date.
Elsewhere VW-owned Lamborghini added 16 sales last month, up 77.78% year-on-year, and is on 25 units sold on its home market for the year-to-date. DR Motor, which assembles Chinese cars locally from CKD kits, added 61 sales last month to bring itself up to 121 units after the first two months of the year.
