While the analysis for the first semester gets ready, here it is a quick review of most important facts about Fiat-Chrysler sales figures for June/12. In Italy the bad situation continues with a total market that dropped 24% year on year to 129.000 cars. However Fiat Group managed to increase its market share up 0.4 points. This ‘good’ result is due to the good acceptance of new generation Panda that has become the country’s best selling car above the traditional Punto. The Panda, whose sales include the old and new generation, was again in the podium for 6th consecutive month and its sales were up 5% year on year but down 15% compared to May figures. This is because the summer has just started and normally car sales fall during this time. The old Punto, whose new generation was delayed again, suffers the consequences and falls 34%! Is a pity how Fiat is treating this car and it should tells Marchionne to change his mind, because no matter it is still one of best selling cars in Italy, Fiat could have a larger market share in B-segment with an all new Punto. The best prove: the all new Peugeot 208 managed to occupy place number 13 among best selling cars with more than 2 thousand units sold. It shows the impact that a new generation can have in consumers no matter the bad situation (new Toyota Yaris occupied place number 6!). The Fiat 500 is also doing good as it was the third bestselling car in Italy but its sales falled 26% compared to May figures. One more Fiat to had a good performance was the Freemont with more than 1400 units sold. The same quantity sold by Lancia Delta which had its best month so far. The small Ypsilon continues to impress, especially in Turin, with more than 4200 units and once again the Alfa Romeo Giulietta impresses ahead of VW Golf by more than 400 units. The Giulietta seems to get the leadership of C-Segment while the Golf, still popular, begins to suffer the same illness of Fiat Punto. Very bad numbers for Alfa Romeo MiTo, with less than 1000 units delivered below the Mini and Audi A1. By brands it is important to mention the great result of Lancia which occupied place number 3 mainly because of the good result of the Ypsilon and Delta, as the American models seem to not to take off.
Even the arrival of new sporty versions of the Punto, the car can’t stop its sales drop all over Europe, Italy included
Meanwhile in America the situation is really different. The total market had an awesome growth of 22% year on year. More or less, all Chrysler models had good results: the Ram pickup was the country’s number 10 best selling car, decreasing one position compared to May/12. It sold almost 24.000 units, up 17%, less than the whole market, but much more than Ford F Series and Chevrolet Silverado (11% and 3%). The Chrysler 200 and Jeep Grand Cherokee continue to impress with great sales figures up 51% and 39%. Nevertheless the Jeep sold 1.500 units less than Ford Explorer. In the case of the Chrysler part of the success is explained by the good welcome it has had in California, the largest market in the States. The Wrangler was Jeep’s best selling model with more than 14.000 units, up 28%. Other great performances were the Dodge Avenger (+68%), Jeep Liberty (+50%), Chrysler Town & Country (+32%) and of course the awesome result of Chrysler 300 with almost 7.000 units delivered, up a massive 179%. It seems that finally Americans begin to like it, as it had a very slow begining during 2011. Fiat managed to sell again more than 4.000 units of its 500, growing 122% year on year, and just 172 below the Mini. If the trend continues the successful mini car could meet Marchionne’s first forecast of selling 50.000 units per year, especially now that there is the new Ad campaign. Bad results for Dodge Caravan, up only 1%, Dodge Charger, up 18%, the old Jeep Patriot, down 4%, and Jeep Compass, -15%. Weird what is happening to Dodge Durango, the all new big SUV presented recently. The car is not popular at all as it should be coming from its successful cousin, the Jeep Grand Cherokee. The Durango sold only 3.300 units compared to 12.500 of the Jeep, and was down 43%. By brands only Dodge/Ram combined grew less than the market, 5%, but Chrysler had an excellent month growing 62.5% (due to 200 and 300 models) and Jeep sold 23% more. At the end, due to Dodge/Ram results, the whole group grew less than total market but it keeps its market share around 11%.
The Chrysler 200 has become the symbol of reborn of Chrysler
Pretty much what happened in Brazil. Fiat registrations grew less than total market which had its second best month ever, up a massive 19% thanks to new incentives given by the government to stop the slow down of last months. Nevertheless Fiat kept its market share but did not get as much as consumers as it could had done. It sold 18% more than one year ago. The only good performance was the new Palio, up 103%, which occupies place number 4 among best selling cars of that country. Even like that it seems the B-Segment Fiat has arrived to its top of sales and will not be able to reach the sales figures of VW Gol. The new Siena is doing well but is taking time to beat its rivals, the VW Voyage and Chevrolet Corsa Sedan. In June it sold 9.500 units, up 8%, just 35 units below the Corsa and 354 above the Voyage. The Uno sold almost 26.000 units and was again Brazil’s second best selling car, but its performance was not brilliant: +1.6%. The Fiat Strada had the worst result. One year ago it was Brazil’s 5th best selling car with more than 10.500 units sold. In June 2012 it sold 8.400. The facelift presented in June must help to revitalize the pickup. Further down, the Punto, whose facelift was presented some days before, sold around 300 units more but lost market share with the rise of Nissan March, imported from Mexico with very competitive prices. Also from Mexico, the small 500 sold more than 1.300 units, but is far from 2.400 units sold in March of this year. The C-Segment is again a problem for Fiat. Though the facelifted Bravo just arrived in June to the dealers, it continues to fall in the list, and during June/12 it was down 8.1% and the Linea, without any facelift, dropped 57% (without taking into account that new generation of Hyundai i30 has not arrived yet).
The new Palio and Fiat 500 in Brazil. Both cars have had an enormous success over there. Photo by 500blog
In Canada Chrysler Group along with Fiat had moderate results. The whole group just grew 0.5% in a market that is slowing down for the first time in 2012. The best performance was the Dodge Caravan, up 10% and reaching more than 6.000 units, very close to the 6.342 Rams delivered. Both cars are number 2 and 3 best selling cars. Fiat sold 48% more but as in Brazil is far away from 1.200 units sold in March and April of this year. For the first time in this year, Argetinian results were negative. The whole market falled 12% and Fiat dropped 23% as it had some problems with production in its Cordoba factory. All models falled except the small 500 that counted 389 units, not far from the record achieved in May. The uncertain situation of Argentinean economy must continue to affect car sales. In Europe things are going really bad. Due to lack of new models Fiat and Alfa Romeo brands drop their sales more than the average of the market, especially in France and Germany. In the UK the good performance of Fiat 500, again in Top 10 during June, allowed Fiat brand to fall only 1.3%. Lancia improves but its numbers are really marginal. In France only the mini cars, the 500 and Panda, had a ‘good’ result, up 3% and 8%, but the Punto falled a extreme 44%, and the beautiful Giulietta dropped 29% in its third year of commercial life. In Germany the situation with the Punto gets really worrying: the car dropped a spectacular 67% and could not even sold more than 1.000 units, in a market that grew 3% during that month. The 500 falled 3% due to the great success of the VW Up!, while the new Panda grew 6.2%. The Giulietta falled 21%. In the troubled Spain, Fiat brand grew an interesting 22% against the general fall of 12% thanks to great performance of Fiat 500, up 73%, and Panda, up 145%.
Source: http://www.bestsellingcarsblog.net and http://www.carsitaly.net
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