Fiat Group Automobiles has kicked off 2007 in an excellent manner, its registrations up 5.2 pct year-on-year across Europe and with all three brands, Fiat, Alfa Romeo and Lancia all making gains; the results come as the European new car market has started the new year in positive territory. The data was released by the European motor manufacturer trade body ACEA, and covers the 23 European Union (EU) member nations plus the three European Free Trade Agreement (EFTA) signatories.

A total of 1,285,104 new passenger cars and light commercial vehicles were sold last month across Europe, up by 1.1 percent on January 2006's total of 1,271,325 units. Although Europe's biggest new vehicle market, Germany, was down 10.5 pct, the four other major markets all put on a spurt of growth, with the UK up 5.2 pct, Italy 3.5 pct, Spain 2.7 pct and France 1.8 pct, to allow Europe to make a strong start to 2007.

Fiat Group Automobiles Spa (the new name for Fiat Auto which was rolled out late last month) has made a great start to the year, continuing its recent positive run, up 5.2 pct year-on-year, to claim an 8.7 pct pan-European market share last month, up from 8.3 pct during the same period last year. This equated to 111,224 new Fiat vehicles being registered last month, compared to 105,707 during January 2006.

Splitting the Fiat Group Automobiles portfolio up into the main divisions, the Fiat brand (including Light Commercial Vehicles) recorded 85,096 registrations last month compared to 80,906 the year before. This equated to a 5.2 pct year-on-year rise, raising their European market share from 6.4 to 6.6 pct.
 

Alfa Romeo Automobiles Spa was the division's best performer, up 9.6 pct year-on-year as it sold 13,910 cars last month as opposed to 12,690 during January 2006. The "sporty" brand's European market share climbed by 0.1 pct year-on-year to 1.1 pct. Lancia Automobiles Spa was also in positive territory, up 1.0 pct, with 11,713 new vehicles registered last month compared to 11,592 during the first month of last year. This performance kept their pan-European market share steady at 1.0 pct.

Fiat's 5.2 pct year-on-year rise compared very well with the other major automotive groups: VW/Audi, Europe's biggest carmaker, lost 3.8 pct, while Renault (-7.5 pct), DaimlerChrysler (-2.3 pct) and BMW Group (-1.1 pct) were the other main losers. Europe's second biggest group, PSA Peugeot-Citroën was up by 0.5 pct, while third and fourth big players, Ford and General Motors, were up 2.2 pct and 7.6 pct respectively.

Renault's weak performance (although its Dacia brand gained 4.6 pct) has allowed Fiat to leapfrog it into fifth place, the 111,224 new vehicles the Italian firm sold last month putting the Turin-based carmaker almost 10,000 units ahead of its French rivals after just one month of the year, giving it the best possible start to 2007.