With demand for the new Fiat Grande Punto now driving them swiftly forward, Fiat Auto outperformed a shrinking European-wide new car market last month, to register an overall 2.1 percent year-on-year rise.

In fact, during November - according to automotive manufacturer body ACEA - Italy was the only major European car market to see a rise in new registrations, as it climbed up by 3.1 pct, with 177,489 new vehicles hitting the roads. Across Europe as a whole (counting the fifteen European Union member nations as well as the eight EFTA countries), sales contracted by 2.8 pct year-on-year, with France down by 2.1 pct, Germany (-3.4 pct), Spain (-4.0 pct) and the UK (-7.9 pct). Big brand losers included the VW Group, which saw sales fall by 2.8 pct, Peugeot-Citroen (PSA) Group, down by 1.6 pct, Ford, who dropped 7.0 pct, and Renault, who lost a massive 15.8 pct.

Against this very difficult market backdrop Fiat Auto performed extremely well, comfortably riding out the market fall, while helping in part to drive Italy forward, was the successful new Grande Punto 'compact' model.
 

Fiat Auto (counting the Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Lancia and Maserati brands all together) saw 79,411 new vehicles registered across Europe last month (up from 77,210 in November 2004) which equated to an overall 2.9 pct rise in sales. This allowed them to increase their total market share from 6.8 pct in Nov 2004, up to a pleasing 7.1 pct.

Fiat-branded vehicles were the best performers in the Fiat Auto portfolio last month, 60,137 new registrations (as opposed to 55,143 in Nov 2004) allowing them to record a significant 9.1 pct rise in sales. This performance was driven mainly by the well-received new Grande Punto model - which has already built up a bulging order book - while the LCV division's products continue to be in demand, and the Croma adds its weight as it rides out its targets. Fiat increased its European market share from 4.8 pct in Nov 2004 to 5.4 pct last month.

The specialist brands - Alfa Romeo and Lancia - had a more difficult month. Despite the arrival in the showrooms of the Alfa 159, Alfa Romeo only sold 9,710 new cars (down from 12,069 in Nov 2004) and saw their market share slip slightly to 0.9 pct (from 1.1 pct in Nov 2004). Lancia meanwhile, saw 9,306 new cars being registered last month (as opposed to 9,696 in Nov 2004), a mild fall of 4.0 pct which left their Europe-wide market share unchanged at 0.8 pct.

Overall, for the first 11 months of the year (Jan-Nov) Fiat Auto have sold 884,344 new vehicles across Europe, down 10.9 pct on Jan-Nov 2004 when 992,270 were registered. This breaks down to 735,216 vehicles from Fiat, while Alfa Romeo and Lancia have sold 119,623 and 111,386 respectively. Alfa Romeo have seen their market share drop by 17.6 pct on Jan-Nov 2004, although Lancia continue to hold onto their pleasing year-on-year rise, up by 3.6 pct.