09.11.2010 FIAT'S GERMAN SALES HALVE FOR THE SIXTH CONSECUTIVE MONTH

ALFA ROMEO GIULIETTA 1.4 TB MULTIAIR
ALFA ROMEO GIULIETTA 1.4 TB MULTIAIR
ALFA ROMEO GIULIETTA 1.4 TB MULTIAIR

Alfa Romeo was the only bright spot for FGA in Germany during October thanks to demand for the new Giulietta (above), its total 963 units was down only very slightly year-on-year (-5.4 percent) although it has a lot of work to do as that gave the 'sports' division a share of the month's sales that came in at just 0.4 percent.

There is still no sign of any respite for Fiat Automobiles tumbling sales across Europe as on the German market October marked the sixth consecutive month that the Italian carmaker has seen its sales plunge by a half. Fiat Automobiles, once again, had the dubious distinction of being the worst year-on-year performer of any brand name on the German new car market last month.

There were simply no positive signs at for Fiat as the overall market in fact eased its losses slightly during October: 256,775 cars registered adding up to a year-on-year fall of 20 percent, meaning that the Fiat brand's stumble was almost two-and-a-half times the overall market's retreat and it all comes right on the back of a 40 percent year-on-year decline in Italy for the same month. There was some better news at sister Fiat Group Automobiles (FGA) brand Alfa Romeo which, thanks to robust demand for the new Giulietta, only lost a small amount of ground year-on-year and comfortably outperformed the overall market, albeit on total sales of less than a thousand units.

With 5,892 cars sold last month in Germany the Fiat brand saw its sales declining 47.8 percent year-on-year and its share of the overall market for October thus shrank to just 2.3 percent. The next biggest loser last month was the VW Group's Skoda unit (-44.8 percent) which was followed by GM's Opel (-37.8 percent) and French carmaker Renault (-36.1 percent).

The next sharpest fallers were the three big Japanese carmaking groups led out by Honda (-35.2 percent) and closely followed by Toyota/Lexus (-31.4 percent) and Nissan/Infiniti (-31.1 percent). Behind them came a second VW Group division, this time Spain's SEAT (-29.5 percent) and then U.S. giant Ford (-27.8 percent) was yet another big player to lose more than a quarter of its German sales during October and under perform the overall market. Amongst the winners were the three prestige domestic brands - Porsche, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi - while big niche gainers included Jaguar and Land Rover.

Alfa Romeo however was the bright spot for FGA in October, its 963 units was down only very slightly year-on-year (-5.4 percent) although it has a lot of work to do as that gave the 'sports' division a share of the month's sales that came in at 0.4 percent. Lancia unfortunately went the opposite way once more and the Turinese brand has all but vanished from the German market this year: it shifted just 94 more units during October.

For the year-to-date the picture is just as bleak for Fiat Automobiles: a total of 68,278 units registered after ten months adds up to a 54.4 percent fall compared to the same period last year and leaves it as the worst performing volume brand on the market. Only three very niche brands - Lada, Daihatsu and FGA's Lancia - have suffered more year-on-year for the year-to-date. Fiat's slice of all sales for the year-to-date in Germany now stands at 2.8 percent.

Alfa Romeo has sold 6,958 cars so far this year on this market and that means it is down by more than a third year-on-year (-36.3 percent) and it has a 0.3 percent share of all sales for the ten month period. Lancia has sold just 1,220 cars in Germany for the year-to-date and its fall of 61.6 percent year-on-year for the period makes it the worst performing brand name in Germany so far this year.

The Chrysler Group, 20 percent owned by Fiat Group, notched up 422 sales in October combined across its three brand names: Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep, adding up to a year-on-year fall of 19.6 percent which mirrored the overall market's performance and gave it a 0.2 percent share of all sales for the month. For the year-to-date the Chrysler Group has a combined sales total of 5,184 vehicles which is down 29.3 percent year-on-year for the ten month period. Its market share for the year-to-date now stands at 0.2 percent.
 

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