Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) enjoyed plenty of black ink in Germany during March as Alfa Romeo’s sales climbed in the double digits while Fiat was slightly positive but easily outperformed the overall market which saw its momentum run out and sales sliding during the third month of the year.
In total 347,433 new cars were sold in Germany during March which was down 3.4% year-on-year, abruptly reversing a very positive start to the year.
The Fiat brand, which is struggling to shift its model range on most other European markets this year, enjoyed a positive March in Germany with its 10,129 units sold representing a rise of 1.8% and comfortably outperforming the negative direction of the overall market. As a result Fiat’s share of sales for the month came it at 2.9%.
Alfa Romeo performed strongly in Germany last month to rise 12.7% year-on-year to beat the negative trend of the overall market – albeit that was off the back of 702 sales which added up to a 0.2% share of the total market for March.
FCA’s ‘sports’ brand should be selling at the very least in a multiple of five of March’s figure with both the Giulia and Stelvi onow in the showrooms. However, March provides a solid platform for Alfa Romeo Germany to build on and the brand will be targeting significant sales rises over the rest of the year.
Finally, in March, Jeep added more good news for FCA as its 1,625 sales added up to a 9.5% rise compared to the same month last year and a half percent share of all sales for the month just gone.
The German new car market finishes the first quarter in positive territory despite that downturn in March and rests on 878,611 sales, a rise of 4% over the first three months of last year. It enjoyed strongly positive gains in January and February that helped to cushion the blow of that March slide despite the month just gone being the biggest in terms of sales volumes so far this year.
Fiat misses out on the market’s positive direction but has bounced back very well after a troubled start to the year – it lost significant ground during January, was very slightly negative in February and beat the market last month – and is thus up 0.6% after three months to 20,734 units and a 2.4% share of total market sales for the period.
Alfa Romeo finishes the first quarter of 2018 with 1,482 sales and is up 11.6% year-on-year to take a 0.2% share of the market for the first three months. It’s had something of a yo-yo year with sales up by an impressive two thirds year-on-year in January, that striking momentum was reversed in February as sales went south and it then changed direction again after turning in a robust March with a double digit rise against a falling market.
Finally, Jeep is also positive for the first quarter, the American off-road brand is up 14% to 3,840 units and that equates to a 0.4% share of total market sales for the year-to-date.
