I thought I'd do a series on Fiat in Italy, going back to 1997. The data is from various sources and is sufficiently accurate to use although sources from Italy can be slightly variable. With that in mind...
Back in 1997, Fiat commanded a third of the Italian passenger car market. Going further back to 1974, it exceeded 50% but has never reached those dizzying heights but not a realistic penetration nowadays.
Still, we are starting over twenty years later and 33% was a strong result. The Punto was king with 375,000 registrations or 15.7% of total sales. Impressive for a single model. However, sales were dropping rather quickly after that. The second generation did uplift declining sales in the year 2000 but perhaps not by as much as one might expect. The Panda, Cinquecento and Bravo/Brava were also solid performers, highlighting Fiat's strength in smaller cars.
Over the six years covered here, total registrations were very stable but Fiat was losing ground. The total sales per annum dropped from 793,400 to 511,700. All models were part of that decline but none more so than the Punto (pic above).
The Cinquecento was replaced by the Seicento but that didn't have any impact of note. The Stilo (pic below) was designed to improve on the Bravo/Brava with only a marginally superior result. The 22.4% share in 2002 was a third down from just six years earlier.
For the second in the series, simply click here. Photographs: Netcarshow.
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