Fiat and Alfa Romeo both posted year-on-year gains in France last month, up 15.1 and 9.5 percent respectively, although neither brand was able to match the overall new car market rise of 17.9 percent. The French new car market saw 242,709 registrations last month as the overall market continued for another month in very positive territory compared to the opening quarter of last year. Imported brands made the pace during March, up 27.0 percent on the back of 111,288 sales, while domestic brands were up 11.2 percent with 131,419 units spread across the two PSA brands, with Citroën (35,070, +6.1 percent) and its sister Peugeot (45,159, +25.4 percent) while Renault (53,184, +5.0 percent) also gained although it missed the market bounce.

Last month Fiat saw 9,063 registrations, up 15.1 percent year-on-year while Alfa Romeo’s 989 units was up 9.5 percent. Lancia's 404 units left it virtually unchanged (-2.2 percent) on March 2009 while the Fiat Group’s niche luxury/performance brands Ferrari and Maserati both posted a good month, the Maranello brand’s 40 sports cars adding up to a 73.9 percent year-on-year rise while Maserati’s 119 units was up 26.7 percent.

The Chrysler Group continued its European sales falls in France, as elsewhere, although it sells just nominal numbers on the market now. The Chrysler brand was the most stable in terms of volume and year-on-year decline, although it managed to find just 135 buyers in France last month and that left it down by 26.2 percent year-on-year, Dodge, on just 98 units, saw its sales slip by more than a half (-55.8 percent) while Jeep was also shunned by French buyers, its meager tally of 103 units meaning its sales contracted by more than a third (-34.4 percent).

For the year-to-date France has seen 594,730 new car registrations which is up 16.9 percent on the same period last year. Fiat and Alfa Romeo are both up for the year-to-date but have lost ground to the overall market: after three months the Fiat brand has 20,479 units which is almost flat on last year (+1.2 percent) while Alfa Romeo is on 2,796 units, and is the best year-on-year performer for FGA for the opening here months of the year, up 9.7 percent, while Lancia's 897 sales equates to a drop of more than a quarter for the same period last year (-25.6 percent).

The Group’s niche brands have had a mixed opening three months: Ferrari's sales are up three quarters (+73.9 percent) after shifting 40 cars while Maserati goes the other way, it is down close to a half (-43.3 percent) after finding 38 buyers over the first quarter of the year. The Chrysler Group’s three brands all continue their consistent downward spiral for the first three months of the year, the Chrysler brand has 244 registrations for the year-to-date, down 34.2 percent, Dodge is on 182 units, down 62.9 percent, while Jeep’s 280 units mean it has the best performance from the U.S. carmakers brand portfolio for the three months, albeit of just 252 units and with it a fall of 20.0 percent.