Fiat and Lancia once again both turned in strong sales performances in their important home Italian market during September. Fiat branded vehicle registrations rose by 6.75 pct year-on-year, while Lancia's sales were up by a stunning 13.50 pct, according to new car data released yesterday by the Italian Transport Ministry.

With the sluggish month of August behind them, and with a raft of important new models now coming on stream, Fiat Auto, through its three key brands, is facing the immediate future with renewed vigour and much promise. In fact, the whole Italian market - which kick-started itself during August, continued the trend last month, to finish up 3.5 pct on September 2004. In total 186,759 new vehicles were registered (compared to 180,440 in September 2004). This strong performance helped to ease the downturn this year, with sales for the first nine months (Jan-Sep) of the year now down by 2.34 pct over 2004, with 1,725,465 vehicles registered (as opposed to 1,766,897 in Jan-Sep 2004).

Fiat-branded cars and light commercial vehicles continued August's upward trend as registrations last month climbed by 6.75 pct year-on-year, after 39,207 new vehicles were registered (36,729 in Sep 2004). This total puts the Fiat brand on a 20.99 pct market share (up from 20.36 pct in Sep 2004).
 

Fiat seem to have now weathered the worst of their difficulties, and with the exciting new Grande Punto 'supermini' expected to make a significant impact on sales figures this month, following a highly successful 'open week' during September when more than one million Italians visited dealerships the length of Italy, they expect to see a strong run up to the end of the year. Last month LCV performed well as has become the trend, while the Croma station-wagon continues to sell in line with expectations.

Lancia has been the star performer in the Fiat brand portfolio for a year now, and last month proved to be no different story. Fiat's 'luxury' automotive brand saw registrations up by an excellent 13.50 pct, as 8,288 new cars (7,302 in Sep 2004) hit the Italian roads. This was enough to give them a 4.44 pct market share (4.05 pct in Sep 2004). The Musa continues to perform well alongside the successful Ypsilon range, which itself will be shortly be emboldened by the arrival in the showrooms of the Frankfurt-debuting 'MOMO Design' special edition version.

Alfa Romeo again struggled to find buyers last month. Sales slid by 16.81 pct, after 4,915 cars were registered (5,908 in Sep 2004). This gave Fiat's 'sporty' brand a 2.63 pct share of their home market, down from 3.27 pct year-on-year. Alfa Romeo now expect to make a positive contribution to Fiat Auto's performance this month as the much-anticipated Alfa 159 sedan finally begins being delivered to its Italian customers. Ordering got underway last month.

However - despite Alfa Romeo's negative performance - Fiat Auto (Fiat, Lancia and Alfa Romeo combined) grabbed a 28.06 pct share of the Italian market, up from 27.68 pct in Sept 2004.