5:50 am, October 8, 2008
IT’S not doom and gloom for everyone. Fiat has just announced its best monthly result in four years.
The Italian brand sold 9818 cars in September – driving up its market share by over 15 per cent, to 3 per cent overall.
Retail sales were largely behind this growth. They were up over 56 per cent on the same period last year. And the car that’s making the waves? The 500. Fiat sold 3624 of the retro-styled city car in September.
‘The Fiat brand is on the move,’ said Andrew Humberstone, MD, Fiat Group Automobiles UK, who paid tribute to the key role dealers have had in this success.
‘This fantastic result is testament not only to our eco-friendly cars and the overall desirability of the Fiat range, but to the number of key dealer partners who exceeded their sales targets by more than 150 per cent.
Fiat’s smart range of small cars is also paying dividends. ‘We expect the fourth quarter to be challenging but, that said, we believe we are positioned to face these challenges.
‘There has been a shift in consumer buying behaviour, and people are choosing to downsize into the small car sector – an area which is clearly one of our primary strengths.’
The success is also proof that, to measure results, we now need to look beyond the plain old sales yardstick, and consider market share, too. Things may be down overall, but there still seems to be a shifting of the order within this…
