Fiat echt uitstekend bezig

The German new car market slid 4.3 percent last month, however Fiat Automobiles was able to ride out the decline to see its sales remain flat and be one of just six brands that ended the month up year-on-year, albeit by 0.1 percent.  Alfa Romeo and Lancia couldn’t match the market rise however and they lost 9 percent and 58.9 percent respectively year-on-year. After a long positive run the German new car market swung negative in January, with a total of 181,189 registrations it was down by 4.3 percent on the same month last year.

With 5,278 cars registered in Germany during January it meant Fiat Automobiles was up 0.1 percent year-on-year, joined in positive territory by only a handful of brands that were able to buck the market’s downward trend, those being Chevrolet (+43.7), Nissan/Infinity (+206.1 percent), Renault/Dacia (+39.0 percent), Skoda (+43.8 percent) and VW (+10.9 percent). It added up to give Fiat a 2.9 percent of all sales on the market.

Alfa Romeo though slid 9.0 percent year-on-year after selling 495 cars last month and that gave it a 0.3 percent share of the market. Lancia's recent bad sales run in Germany continued last month, and with 106 registrations it saw its sales down by more than a half on the same month a year ago (-58.9 percent). Other big losers in Germany last month included Honda (-43.2 percent), Mazda (-57.1 percent), Porsche (-31.7 percent), Smart (-41.3 percent), troubled Toyota/Lexus (-36.6 percent) and, it almost goes without saying, Chrysler Group, which was down 37.1 percent after managing to shift just 342 units combined across its Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge brands.

Fiat Automobiles turned in an impressive January’s 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 year’s 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 Romeo’s 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. Fiat’s 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 carmaker’s 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 today’s announcement of a continuation of the scheme to the end of March will allow the maximum number of people to benefit from the budget that’s 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.