In total 152,393 new passenger cars were sold in Italy last month. That was a welcome direction for the market which has been struggling for positivity recently and was in fact up 4.42% on July last year.

FCA was up also, by 3.36% and just under one thousand four hundred units year-on-year during July to finish the month on 42,463 units but as that didn’t quite match the market’s gains its total share of sales fell to 27.86%.

The Fiat brand continued to lose ground during July and it fell 10.08% and three thousand units year-on-year after wrapping up the month on 26,537 units. Most of its models lost ground, particularly the 500 which is now being shunned by buyers, although the 500X provided a much needed bright spot. As a result of that poor performance Fiat’s market share for July fell by nearly three percentage points to 17.41%.

Alfa Romeo had good news to shout out about as it climbed one and a half thousand units and 44.54% to 4,910 cars sold as it placed its focus on getting volumes behind the aged MiTo and Giulietta models and its market share jumped by almost a full percentage point to 3.22%.

Lancia fell 18.67% to 3,455 units while the luxury brands had a mixed July, Ferrari up 11.9% to 47 units while Maserati was down 4.33% to 309 units. Finally, for FCA, the Jeep brand was up 102.33% to 7,205 units.

During July there was no change at the top of the best sellers list as the Fiat Panda continued to rule the roost despite shedding sales with gusto this year and although it only managed to tot up 7,814 sales last month, down one thousand four hundred units year-on-year, it was still the number one choice with Italian consumers although that left it uncharacteristically less than two and a half thousand units ahead of the second placed Fiat 500X, which added a further 5,302 units during July.

Of the Panda’s niche power variants, 1,877 units came as diesels while 1,291 were in LPG format which made it Italy’s best-selling LPG model. Finally, 247 units came in methane format.

The 500X was the Fiat brand’s only bright spot last month with sales up more than two thousand units when compared to July of last year and it comfortably topped C-segment, one thousand six hundred units clear of its brand sister, the Tipo. Of the 500X’s sales during July, 3,736 came in diesel format which made it the market’s best-selling oil-burner for the month and 975 in LPG which put it second in this niche segment.

The Tipo, with 5,138 units sold, made it three Fiat models in the overall top four sellers in Italy during July, as well as being second in C-segment. In an extra boost to the mass volume model – which comes in hatchback, sedan and station wagon formats – that was in fact 118 units better than it had managed in July 2017.

Of the Tipo’s total sales for July, 1,358 units were in station wagon format, which made it the market’s best-selling ‘estate’ type car for July, 904 units were in LPG format which made it the third best-selling LPG powered car for the month and gave the Fiat brand a lockout of the market’s top three LPG cars as it came in behind the Panda and 500X.

Next up was Jeep’s Compass, with 3,676 units sold in July, while its brand sister the Renegade added 3,143 units to make it into the overall top ten in ninth place. These two models also claimed second and third place in C-segment respectively.

Lancia’s Ypsilon faded to seventh place with 3,455 sales but still held onto third place in B-segment and was in fact only three dozen units short of the second-placed Toyota Yaris. 874 units of the Ypsilon’s sales came in LPG format while a further 172 were powered by methane.

The elderly Fiat Punto rocketed up the sales charts to make an unexpected re-entry into the overall top ten in tenth place. That put it fifth in B-segment for the month just gone although its sales were down by one thousand five hundred units year-on-year. Last month 306 Puntos of that total were sold in methane format.

The Fiat 500 continued its rapid fade away and only managed fourteenth place in July with 2,790 sales, its demand collapsing by more than a half year-on-year. However, it still retained second place in B-segment and was over a thousand units clear of the third placed Opel Karl.

The Fiat 500L is also struggling to win over Italian buyers and was the market’s eighteenth best seller with 2,392 being sold. It nabbed ninth spot in B-segment and in fact its sales were up seven hundred units year-on-year.

The ageing Giulietta remained unchallenged as Alfa Romeo’s top seller during July and had a great month with 2,152 examples finding buyers. In fact, its sales were up more than seven hundred units on July last year and it was the tenth best selling car in C-segment. It’s also a popular choice with gas powered car buyers as 587 units during July came in LPG format with its penetration growing fast.

Alfa Romeo’s almost forgotten B-segment MiTo hatchback also enjoyed a the kick of a dying cat as it elbowed its way into the top fifty in forty first place with 1,062 units sold.

Three places above the MiTo in the rankings came the new Stelvio with 1,178 units finding buyers to put it third in D-segment for the month just gone and that total is up when compared with the 880 units the SUV shifted during July last year; however its sales have since found their peak and are flatlining throughout the year so far. It’s sister model in D-segment, the Giulia, lost 45 unit sales year-on-year to finish July on 554 units and stake out ninth place in the segment.

Amongst the niche luxury/sports brands Maserati’s sales were led out by the Levante added 183 units in July, up 5 units on what the SUV shifted during the same month last year while the Ghibli sold 106 units last month, down 15 units year-on-year. For Ferrari its new Portofino totted 14 sales in July and the 812 Superfast added a further 12 units.

That positive July performance has given the Italian market a timely boost to bring it up to flat with last year. So far 273,730 new passenger cars have been sold in Italy during 2018, down just 0.74% on the same period last year.

Meanwhile, after the first seven months of the year FCA has sold 347,094 cars which is down almost thirty thousand units and 8.69% on the same period last year. As a result, it’s total market share so far this year stands at 27.25% down a little over two percentage points.

The Fiat brand has endured a rough year at home and has lost fifty thousand sales when compared to the same period last year, falling 17.88% to 226,956 units and with a market share of 17.83%.

Of the mainstream niche brands, Alfa Romeo is up 12.44% year-on-year for the year-to-date to 42,187 units while Lancia is down 25.87% to 30,615 units. Amongst the luxury brands Ferrari is up 12% to 280 units while Maserati's sales have declined by 9.7%. Finally, Jeep is up 101.07% to 55,259 units.

For the year-to-date the Panda still rules the roost in Italy with 75,261 units now sold. But its sales have slumped by more than twenty thousand units when compared to the first seven months of last year.

The 500X is in second place for the year-to-date with 36,035 units sold, that’s up more than six thousand units year-on-year and keeps it clear at the top of C-segment for the year so far.

The Tipo is the fourth best-selling car in Italy for the year-to-date, with 31,973 units sold, as well as being the second-best seller in C-segment, although it’s lost eight thousand units on the same period last year. Of the Tipo’s total volumes sold this year, 13,358 units have been specified in station wagon format which puts it at the top of this market segment for the year-to-date.

The Ypsilon has 30,615 sales so far this year which is down more than ten thousand units on the same period in 2017 but it still holds onto second place in B-segment for the year-to-date.

Despite big falls in recent months the 500 is on 29,540 sales for the year-to-date. It’s still the second-best seller in A-segment after seven months but its sales are already down nearly nine thousand units year-on-year.

The Renegade is on 27,505 units so far this year while Jeep’s other key model, the Compass, is on 25,931 units. They are the tenth and thirteenth best selling cars in Italy, respectively, for the year-to-date.

The 500L is the eleventh best seller in Italy so far this year, on 26,737 units, while the elderly Punto is the twenty first best seller, and is now up to 17,481 units.

Alfa Romeo’s top seller for the year-to-date as ever is the Giulietta, with 13,267 units having found buyers so far in 2018. Its sales recent surge means that the Giulietta is now less than six hundred units off its total by this point last year and it's Italy’s tenth best-selling C-segment car for the year-to-date.

The Stelvio is Italy’s forty second best-selling car in 2018 and is on 8,928 units and claims third place in D-segment. The Giulia, meanwhile, is on 4,827 units and down more than one thousand six hundred units on the same period last year.

Amongst the luxury/sports brands, for Maserati the Levante is its biggest winner, now up to 1,048 units for the year-to-date, but the SUV is down a little under three hundred units on the first seven months of last year. The Ghibli is on 594 units for the year-to-date, up several dozen sales on the same period last year. Meanwhile, for Ferrari the 488 is its best seller so far this year with 151 units finding buyers and that’s up 32 units on the same period last year.