Italian Auto Sales up 15% in the 2015 following 19th months of consecutive growth. Fiat defended the over 20% market share ahead of Volkswagen and Ford, while Jeep was the star of the year, not only thanks to Renegade.
Economic Outlook
Italy’s economy expanded 0.2% over the previous quarter in seasonally- and working-day adjusted terms in Q3. The reading, which marked the softest rise since Q4 2014, came on the back of a deterioration of the external sector’s contribution. However, latest indicators paint a positive picture of the economy at the start of Q4.
Indeed, in November, the PMI reached a four-month high and both business and consumer confidence reached all-time highs. Meanwhile, the government’s bailout of four Italian banks at the end of November resulted in significant losses for around 130,000 shareholders and 10,500 bondholders.
The resulting outrage prompted the government to set up a fund to support those who lost money in the restructuring operation. The fund is expected to be worth around EUR 100 million, which would cover about a third of the savers’ losses.
Market Outlook
Ending the year with a new sparkling performance scored in December, the Italian car passenger’s market reported an almost positive 2015 marking a recovery well ahead of the general economic performance scored by the country, still one of the slower in the European Community.
According to data released by the UNRAE, the Italian Association of Cars Importers, in December new cars sales had been 110.582, up 20.9% posting the 19th year-on-year increase in a row.
Full Year 2015 had been 1.583.596, up 15.7% from the previous year, the best out of last four years.
Competitive Arena
In December Fiat Auto has sold 23.072 cars (+34.8%) launching the new Stilo, a C sedan version in theory a car with no demand in this country. In the full year 2015 Fiat sold 324.026 units (+16.6%) with 20.5% of market share.
Volkswagen was second with December sales at 8.121 (+9.9%) and annual sales at 119.035 (+7.3%). In third for December Renault with 8.007 (+33.3%), while the French make was fourth in the full year with 96.443 units.
Ford in December sold 7.008 (+26.0%) ending the year in third place with 110.952 units (+19.2%).
The 2015 will be memorable for Jeep able to increase sales by 163.9% not only thanks to the Renegade success.
As far as performance by group, FCA ended the year on top of the list with 28.2% of market share ahead of Volkswagen with 13.3% and Renault-Nissan with 12.6%. However, the French-Japanese alliance in the fourth quarter was ahead of the German Group. anticipating the battle for the next year.
As far as the best-selling models, in December Fiat Panda was the leader with 8.878 units, up 21.4%, followed by the Lancia Ypsilon with 4.202 (+24.0%) and the new Fiat 500X with 3.832.
In the table below, the best 50 models in the last month. To see the full best-selling models ranking, see the dedicated article
Tables with sales figures
In the tables below we report sales for all Brands, top 10 Manufacturers Group and top 10 Models
