For the month of March – with the European auto market (EU27+EFTA) down 10.3% – Fiat Group posted a modest 1.2% year-over-year decline with 80,700 vehicles sold and share up 0.6 p.p. to 6%. Fiat brand sales were up 7.7%. The Fiat 500L was the best selling car in its segment and the 500 and Panda remained at the top of the rankings in the A segment. Jeep Grand Cherokee sales for the year-to-date were up over the first three months of 2012. The Group’s European market share for the first quarter was 6.4% (+0.1 p.p.). Following declines of 8.5% in January and 10.2% in February, the European auto market (EU27+EFTA) registered another month of decline in March with new vehicle registrations down 10.3% over the same month a year ago to 1,350,000 vehicles. Year-to-date, new vehicle registrations in Europe were down 9.7% over the same period in 2012 to 3,100,000 vehicles.
Fiat Group performed substantially better than the market overall, with nearly 81,000 vehicles sold (a decline of just over 1%) and market share up 0.6 p.p. to 6%. Year-to-date, the Group’s European sales totaled almost 200,000 vehicles, with share at 6.4% (+0.1 p.p.). Results were positive in Italy – where sales grew 5.3% (compared to a decline of nearly 5% for the market) and share was up 2.8 percentage points to 28.8% – as well as in France (+0.6 p.p. to 4%), the UK (volumes up 3.8%) and Spain (+0.5 p.p. to 3.9%).
Fiat brand posted particularly positive performance in March with more than 63,000 vehicles sold (+7.7% over March 2012) and share improving 0.8 p.p. to 4.7%. Year-to-date, the brand sold nearly 154,000 vehicles, with share up 0.5 percentage points year-over-year to 5%. In addition to the results achieved in Italy (sales up 13.8% and share up 3.5 p.p.), the brand also posted increases in Germany (share +0.3 p.p. to 2.7%), France (sales +9.3% and share at 3%), the U.K. (sales +14.1% and share +0.2 p.p. to 2.6%) and Spain (sales +3.2% and share +0.5 p.p. to 3%). By model, the 500L registered excellent performance, leading the Small MPV segment with a 17.7% share. The 500 and Panda were once again the top selling vehicles in the A segment, with the 500 posting a 13.6% segment share (sales up 6.7% year-over-year) and the Panda registering a 12.8% share. The Freemont also remained firmly among the top ten in its segment. Lancia/Chrysler recorded March sales of more than 7,600 vehicles, with share stable at 0.6%. Year-to-date share was also 0.6% with nearly 20,000 vehicles sold. For the Ypsilon, March sales were up 3.3% over the same month a year ago, while the Thema posted year-over-year increases of 44.7% for the month and 48.1% year-to-date. Alfa Romeo closed the month with sales totaling nearly 7,200 vehicles and European market share at 0.5%. Year-to-date, share was 0.6% with more than 17,500 vehicles sold. Performance was particularly positive in Spain, where the brand posted a 9.4% year-over-year increase in sales compared with a 14% decline for the market.
For the Jeep brand, March sales totaled around 2,200 vehicles and share was stable at 0.2%. Year-to-date, the brand sold more than 6,000 vehicles with share stable at 0.2%. In Germany, sales volumes were up 0.6% over the prior year. The brand’s flagship model, the Grand Cherokee (European debut at the Geneva Motor Show with presentation to the international press scheduled for May), was once again among the top ten vehicles in its segment with sales up 7.9% over the first three months of 2012. For Ferrari and Maserati, the Group’s luxury and performance brands, March sales in Europe totaled 493 vehicles.
