Photo by autocasion.com
The Fiat 500L keeps leading the B-MPV segment after one year of its official launch. In August, a month strongly affected by vacations, the Fiat was narrowly ahead of the Ford B-Max, as Italy was once again the main source of its success. Considering estimated data coming from Sweden and Germany, the 500L was 76 units ahead of the B-Max. After beating the Fiat in April, this could be the smallest gap between them so far this year. Historically, Italy is one of the European markets with the biggest fall on demand during August, so it is clear that even if it was the third best-selling car in the country, the 500L overall sales suffered the consequences of the worst Italian August of the last 51 years.
Sales figures for the Citroën C3 Picasso, Fiat 500L, Ford B-Max, Hyundai ix20, Kia Venga and Opel Meriva in Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland, during August 2013. Estimated sales for Citroën C3 Picasso and Fiat 500L in Sweden and Germany. The 500L beats the B-Max for only some units, while the Meriva outsold the C3 Picasso. The Fiat and Citroën lose market share as their largest markets (Southern Europe) have larger falls during August than Northern European markets (where the B-Max, ix20 and Meriva rule). Source: see at the bottom of this post.
The B-Max beats the 500L in 12 of the 15 markets analyzed, and including estimated UK results, where Ford is quite strong, the B-Max could have been the best-selling B-MPV in Europe during August. Nevertheless, YTD numbers indicate that the Fiat is still the top-seller by far. In France and Spain, the 500L occupied place # 3. Ireland became a new market for the Fiat, selling the first 12 units, one behind the Hyundai ix20, and 8 behind the B-Max. Another unusual result came from Germany. This country became the largest B-MPV market (considering the 5 models analyzed), outselling Italy by only 45 units. France comes third, followed by a strong Austria, and a weak Spain, which was only 6 units ahead of the traditionally small Czech Republic. The arrival of a new 1.6 Turbo engine, the 500L Trekking and Living, is supposed to boost sales during September and allow Fiat to increase the distance with the Ford B-Max, which is the least homeland-dependent model among the Europeans. Ford has just announced it will halt production of this model in its Romanian factory due to slow Europe demand.
Estimated sales for the Fiat 500L and Citroën C3 Picasso in Germany and Sweden. Germany outsold Italy as the largest B-MPV market in Europe. Austria did the same with Spain, confirming the trend of big falls in Southern European markets during August against moderate drops in Northern Europe. The Hyundai ix20 has the most balanced sales in Europe, as it is the best-selling small MPV if Germany, Italy and France (the home markets for the Opel, Ford, Fiat and Citroën) are not included. Source: see at the bottom of this post.
USA became the 500L second largest market in August. Fiat sold 1.214 units in its third month in that market, allowing to offset the big fall on 500 demand (-28%). Canadian Fiat sold 220 units, outselling Spain. Thanks to Best-selling cars blog, it is possible to know more data coming from other markets. The excellent results during May and June, allowed the 500L to become Serbia’s best-selling model in the first half of 2013. In Turkey, this Fiat was one of the top-50 best-selling cars during August, and was far ahead of its rivals.
The 500L counted for 29% of Fiat sales in USA, and 26% in Canada. It allowed the brand to offset the 500 sales drop. It shined in Turkey ahead of all its rivals, and it was Serbia’s best-selling car in 2013-H1. Source: Good Car Bad Car, Best Selling cars blog
Click here to see Fiat 500L and rivals sales July 2013
Source: Carsitaly.net, Good Car Bad Car, Automotive Austria, SDA Czech Republic, Bilimporter Denmark, Best Selling Cars Blog, KFZ Germany, SEAA Greece, Motorstats Ireland, UNRAE Italy, Rai Netherlands, Carmarket Poland, Car Sales Statistics Romania, ADS Slovenia,ANIACAM Spain, BIL Sweden, Auto-Suisse Switzerland
Fiat Group World 
Juan, I believe that when it is released in Brazil, the Fiat 500 L conquer a large part of the market segment, mainly because Brazilian consumers seeking compact cars but with a good distribution of the internal space.
The Fiat Idea is already with its 9 years of production, and despite the restyling held in 2010, the model is the second best-selling category since lost ground to GM Spin which was released in 2012.
I believe that a new product can further leverage Fiat’s sales in the category, the more I believe that the 500 U will be released in Brazil only after the completion of construction of the plant in Pernambuco, which should only occur around 2015.
Greetings!
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Hey Jefferson. The 500L is a good product but I am not sure how good it would work in Brazil. What I know is that Brazil will get a B-SUV first, and they are already working on it.
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Hi Juan, i have an idea about Corporating our , isites i have a youtube Channel since 2008 for every activity in Fiat s.pa or Fiat Industrual
The idea is sharing My videos in your sites and Your Topics into my channel
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Send me an email to: juanfelipemunoz@hotmail.com
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Looking at the European stats, it is clear that the FIAT brand is an Italy centered company, and has little impact outside it’s home market in Europe. The only two markets where the 500L is leader is Italy and Slovenia (neighbor to both FIAT’s home and 500L factory). The Ford B-Max (even with a drop of sales and temporary closing of it’s factory) is better balanced being market leader in 7 European markets. As you point out, remove Italy sales and Fiat 500L sales are far behind what they could be. This is a troubling sign and shows FIAT has had little success in marketing it’s product in key European markets.
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Home market as % of sales:
500L: 65%
B-Max: 45%
Meriva: 50%
Picasso: 50%
Felipe, do you have 8-month figures (Jan-Aug) handy? They might be more reliable than a single month,
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Yes I do have YTD figures. But as I make a monthly analysis I don’t include them. For September report I could include them.
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Including them in the September report would be great, thanks!
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It’s natural for FIAT to have a higher % of it’s home market since its the only automaker in it’s home market. Germany and France have several manufacturers between which their home market share is divided. Ford and Opel own a combined 95% of their home market share leaving 5% to foreign competitors. You can see that Home market share can be an incomplete indicator of marketing success.
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Bon, the point really is that the 500L has a very heavy dependence on its home market. So let’s look at the number of sales OUTSIDE each car’s home market:
500L: 1099
B-Max: 1614
Meriva: 1179
Picasso: 1218
I do think there is a problem here. I don’t think it’s the car (though I’m not a huge fan of the 500L design), but it could be the marketing, or the poor performance of dealer networks outside Italy. I don’t know the causes, but the results are clear.
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Ford is an american manufacturer
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But its European HQ are located in Germany and the UK
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Dear Juan, I took some of this data for the autopareri forum (in italian) quoting this very informative web page. Thank you, and if there is any problem about this let me know.
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No problem Efrem. It’s my pleasure!
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