Italian car sales fell 8.2% in October, but Fiat saw an even sharper drop and its market share slipped, weighed down by a slump in sales of its sporty Alfa Romeo brand, Reuters reported, citing transport ministry data.
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The report said sales of Fiat’s three mass-market brands dropped 13.3% year-on-year in October. It took 27.6% of the market, down from 27.7% in September and 29.2% in October 2003. Sales of Alfa brand cars alone tumbled 40%.
Fiat reportedly said consumers were holding out for the four-wheel drive Alfa Crosswagon, which reached showrooms in mid-October, and for Alfa Romeo’s new version of its small 147 hatchback, due to be launched next week.
“The Fiat drop is mainly linked to Alfa and to the 147, even though the Fiat brand lost some ground,” one analyst told Reuters. “The figures aren’t brilliant.”
Sales of the Fiat marque, still Italy’s top selling brand, fell 11.4% year-on-year. The Lancia brand climbed 2.45%, buoyed by the Ypsilon, the report said.
Reuters noted that Fiat Auto is betting on its new models – led by the successful small Panda and the Lancia Ypsilon – to reverse a sales slump on a flat market. So far this year, Italian car sales are up only 0.05%, with October, at 174,500 units, the fourth consecutive month of falling sales.
But think-tank Centro Studi Promotor reportedly said, after reviewing the October data, that it still saw “substantially sustained” demand on the Italian car market.
It said the overall scenario for the month was slightly worse than last year as 62% of dealers said they were unsatisfied with the level of orders, but 58% said they expected demand to remain stable or rise over the next months, Reuters added.
Promotions from car makers and a raft of new models were helping sustain demand, Promotor said in a statement cited by the news agency.
According to Reuters, Kia notched up the biggest gains in October, up 131.5% to take almost 1.4% of the market, while Volkswagen’s Skoda was the worst performer, down almost 53% with a 0.5% market share.
Ford fell 6.2% for 7.8% of the market, while Volkswagen sales dropped 12% for a 5.7% market share, the report added.
