Fiat-the past-now-futur

Fiat Automobiles turned in an impressive Januarys sales in the UK, jumping 68.95 percent year-on-year which was in fact more than double the growth of the overall market which itself was up 28.9 percent. Alfa Romeo was also in positive territory year-on-year for last month, up by 4.76 percent, although it underperformed the overall market's surge.

Both Fiat and Alfa Romeo benefitted from the pace of growth in new car registrations in the UK as the market posted a seventh consecutive monthly gain despite the cold weather and the VAT increase which pulled some registrations into the end of 2009. The January 2010 market total of 145,479 units was 16,618 units short of the January 2008 figure but remained up on January 2009 by 29.8 percent due to the severity of last years decline.

With 3,972 cars registered last month the Fiat brand was up 68.95 percent on the 2,351 cars it saw registered during the same period a year ago and this raised its market share from 2.10 to 2.73 percent year-on-year. With 2,439 registrations notched up in January the Fiat 500 again broke into the top-ten best-sellers where the supermini is now establishing itself as a regular fixture. Alfa Romeos total of 374 cars sold in the UK during January was 17 units up on the opening month of last year and that gave it a year-on-year rise of 4.76 percent. Fiats niche sports brand Abarth saw 68 registrations last month which was up 44.68 percent year-on-year.

Chrysler Group had a mixed month and although there were some rises in sales for the Chrysler and Jeep brands the 20-percent Fiat-owned carmakers UK market has last year collapsed to just a handful of cars. The Chrysler brand saw just 118 registrations in the UK during January, up 24.21 percent, Dodge was down 34.38 percent to just 21 cars, while Jeep fared best in volume terms, albeit with 170 units although this was in fact up 203.57 percent over a very difficult last January.

The UK's scrappage scheme remains a positive influence on consumer demand, and with its range of smaller, efficient cars, Fiat Automobiles has been a key beneficiary, and its continuation into March will ensure that the maximum number of people can benefit from the budget available. The scheme will now last until the end of March or when the money runs out, whichever is the sooner. As the impact of the scheme subsides the market is expected to slow to 1.817 million units over the full year the lowest level since 1993. Volumes are expected slowly to recover to over two million by 2012.

The 29.8 percent increase in January new car registrations provides a better than expected start to 2010 for the UK motor industry, said Paul Everitt, SMMT chief executive. Scrappage continues to lift demand successfully and todays announcement of a continuation of the scheme to the end of March will allow the maximum number of people to benefit from the budget thats still available. Industry expects another difficult year with the availability of finance, consumer confidence and sustaining demand post-scrappage, key to performance in the second half of the year, but signs of recovery in the fleet and business sectors are encouraging, he concluded.