01.09.2003  ITALIAN CAR SALES EXPECTED TO BE FLAT FOR AUGUST AS FIAT TARGETS A 30% SHARE BY YEAR END

"August has been as quiet as to be expected, so a small percentage drop is likely," an insider commented at the weekend.

New car registrations in Italy caught market watchers by suprise as they bucked the falling European trend in July, recrding a 7.9 percent jump which Fiat hope will be the start of a gradual market improvement for the struggling carmaker as freash and exciting new models come on stream from next month.

Fiat's long awaited new Panda model will be launched in Lisbon next week, hotly followed by the Punto-based Idea b-mpv, but the company faces stiff competition from other manufacturers introducing new models into the small car segment as well as cars such as the Mini and Toyota Yaris which have proved highly popular and already carved out a market share.

June saw Fiat's share of the domestic market fall to a historic 27% low, but this trend was reversed as it climbed to 28.7% in July. The Turin-based company is targeting raising its share of the Italian market to 28-30% in the run up to the year end.