Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) dipped at home last month against an Italian market that got the wind back in its sails; its 46,215 units sold was down 2.14% year-on-year with the Fiat brand losing ground although Alfa Romeo was up once again.
In total 171,379 new passenger cars were sold in Italy last month which equated to a 6.47% rise and represented a very good bounce back after a dip. FCA’s April total was however a thousand units down on the same month last year as it missed that overall bounce and instead went negative. As a result its market share contracted to 26.97%.
The Fiat brand was the big volume loser for FCA in April, down 12.22% to 29,680 units as it’s share for the month shrank to 17.32%. It's being hit by continuing falling demand for its best selling model, the Panda, this year, which it remains over reliant on.
Alfa Romeo was up though during April, putting on an 11.03% surge to 4,428 units as demand for the Stelvio SUV helps it along. Lancia meanwhile lost a quarter of its sales to rest on 4,387 units.
Finally for FCA, Maserati sold 200 cars last month, down 9.5%, while Jeep added 7,481 units, up 124,52%.
Amongst the models, last month the Panda continued to easily hold onto the top seller spot and its 8,827 units kept it well ahead of the next best seller, Renault’s Clio, which came in just under the five-thousand-unit mark. The Panda was top of A-segment with the Fiat 500 second; however, the Panda shed three thousand sales year-on-year as demand declines. It wasn’t all doom and gloom in A-segment though as the 500 gained some ground year-on-year last month.
The Fiat 500X was the third best seller with 4,507 units and was Italy’s best selling crossover model for the month.
The fourth best seller in March was Lancia’s Ypsilon with 4,387 sales, second in B-segment only to the Clio.
Then came the Fiat 500 (4,334 units); the Fiat Tipo (4,053 units), top of the estate car category with more than half its sales coming in this format, and Jeep’s Renegade (4,046 units) which keeps moving up to make it six FCA models amongst the top seven best sellers and those three also claimed the top three spots in C-segment.
The Fiat 500L (3,786 units) made it seven FCA models in the top ten as it squeezed into the final spot in the rankings.
Further back, in thirteenth place, came the Jeep Compass (3,166 units) while the elderly Fiat Punto (2,558 units) bagged the last spot in the top twenty.
Five places further back came Alfa Romeo’s best seller in April, the Giulietta, on 1,919 sales, down a couple of hundred units on the same month last year but keeping it hanging on as the ninth best seller in C-segment. The new Stelvio added a round 1,000 units in sales last month, usually a sign that the total is being topped up slightly by a few pre-registered cars at the last minute while in another sign of a touch of tinkering with the data, the Giulia sold 709 units in April, exactly the same volume as it shifted in the same month last year, as it took hold of sixth place in D-segment.
Maserati’s best selling model in April was the Levante, the SUV adding 114 sales and accounting for over half of the Trident brand’s volumes. The Ghibli accounted for 74 units as it took second place in F-segment. Meanwhile Ferrari’s best seller was the 488 with 23 units finding customers last month.
For the year-to-date FCA has a total of 205,423 sales, which is down 6.91% and fifteen thousand units on the same period last year. The Fiat brand has totted up 136,925 sales so far this year, down 14.81%, Alfa Romeo is up 18.46% to 18,837 units, Lancia is down a third to 18,090 units, Maserati is down 12.56% to 1,016 units and finally Jeep is up 95.1% to 30,424 units.
For the year to date FCA locks the top four positions amongst the best selling models with the Panda (43,955 units) leading out the 500X (21,322 units), Tipo (20,063 units) and 500 (20,049 units).
However sharply declining demand for the Panda this year is driving the Fiat brand into the red, the A-segment leader is down fifteenth thousand units when compared to last year after just four months.
Sixth best seller so far this year is the Ypsilon (18,091 units) with the 500L (16,351 units) wrapping up the top ten.
In twelfth place for the year-to-date comes the Renegade (15,313 units) two spots ahead of its brand sister, the Compass (14,158 units) with the Punto (9,157 units) in twenty second place.
Alfa Romeo’s best sellers so far this year are the Giulietta (7,424 units), it's down one thousand three hundred units on the same period last year and the new Stelvio which has now climbed to 5,229 units. The Giulia is on 3,193 units sold for the year-to-date, but worryingly for the D-segment sedan that's just a couple of dozen sales ahead of the same point last year.
