Italian Car Production (Brand) : 2000-09

The situation of Italian car manufacturing took a sharp turn downward. More Fiat cars were made in Poland than in the home market while Brazil was the largest maker of Fiat cars. The only Fiat model of any substantial volume made in Italy was the Punto and that was dropping as the decade progressed.

Lancia Musa 

Lancia was soldiering on with the Ypsilon but it wasn't as popular as it used to be. The new Musa and Delta models that came out in 2004 and 2008 respectively were not doing well either.

Alfa Romeo MiTo

The range of Alfa Romeo models was no longer being replaced and they were petering out as they aged. The MiTo came in 2008 and that one modestly selling car represented over 60% of the brand's sales by 2009.

Specialist car makers Pininfarina and Bertone were about finished as the models they made for others such as cabriolets were not as popular as before. On the bright side Ferrari and Maserati were improving their production but numerically had little impact.

It may seem like the end of Italian car making - at least at the volume manufacturing - was about to end. However, there is more to it, as the next chapter of this story is revealed in the following article.

Yr	Fiat	Alfa	Lancia	Ferr-	Mas-	Lam-	Pinin-	Ber-	De To-	Total
		Romeo		ari	erati	borg	farina	tone	maso
00	979,804	206,836	168,083	4,022	2,039	287	35,348	25,861	4	1,422,284
01	850,293	213,638	132,960	4,315	1,852	259	35,440	33,009	14	1,271,780
02	765,703	187,437	105,297	4,269	3,485	442	23,871	35,252	13	1,125,769
03	674,677	182,469	98,797	4,500	2,937	1,304	39,664	22,095	11	1,026,454
04	514,553	162,116	110,565	4,954	5,151	1,680	21,160	13,395	4	833,578
05	458,237	132,441	109,768	5,361	5,694	1,410	6,490	6,127		725,528
06	591,122	157,775	118,116	5,875	5,788	2,097	9,739	1,990		892,502
07	608,801	151,811	113,626	6,561	7,669	2,563	19,829	-		910,860
08	406,394	109,859	109,230	6,722	9,292	2,422	15,302	-		659,221
09	429,684	104,223	111,800	6,213	4,041	1,253	3,886	-		661,100
Av	627,927	160,861	117,824	5,279	4,795	1,372	42,146	68,865	5	952,908

Data source: ANFIA.

Italian Car Production (Brand) : 1991-00

The Punto came out in 1993 and was an unqualified success

The record Italian production figure of 1989 soon became a distant memory. Fiat slipped downward and merging Auto Bianchi into Lancia's meant less production overall. Innocenti ended altogether! Poland was the benefactor in Europe, with it's Fiat production volume nearly doubling during the decade and the number of models made there grew.

Looking at Fiat, the Punto was a successful replacement for the Uno during this period. However, the Bravo/Brava didn't do nearly as well as the Tipo model that they had replaced. The Panda was in a steady decline and the Marea wasn't quite as popular as the Tempra.

Lancia was only replacing models well beyond their use by date, which was hurting production. When newer ones did arrive, they didn't do so well. Alfa Romeo was more successful, with new models arriving in a timely fashion.

In summary, production was not holding up too well and the question to be asked was is this a hiccup or continuing trend?

Yr Fiat Alfa Lancia Ferr- Mas- Lam- Auto - Inno- Other Total Romeo ari erati borg bianchi centi 91 1,182,935 174,630 130,625 4,589 1,752 672 126,549 10,551 601 1,632,904 92 1,103,037 152,354 96,517 3,470 983 166 109,880 8,580 1,640 1,476,627 93 844,265 109,598 83,875 2,325 523 169 75,051 - 1,247 1,117,053 94 1,063,210 108,097 89,223 2,639 797 248 76,210 - 454 1,340,878 95 1,101,332 156,867 103,383 3,158 980 208 56,414 - 17 1,422,359 96 1,052,868 113,800 139,294 3,363 869 224 7,564 - 13 1,317,995 97 1,219,258 160,590 178,674 3,518 609 216 - - 11,082 1,573,947 98 1,003,101 197,680 172,725 3,631 734 231 - - 24,280 1,402,382 99 1,011,396 208,336 157,720 3,670 1,900 253 - - 27,184 1,410,459 00 979,804 206,836 168,083 4,022 2,039 287 - - 61,213 1,422,284 Av 1,056,121 158,879 132,012 3,439 1,119 267 90,334 9,566 12,773 1,411,689

Data source: ANFIA.

The 156 came in 1997 and was a winner for the clover leaf brand

Italian Car Production (Brand) : 1981-90

The Uno was a huge success for Fiat

Things went well for Italian car manufacturing at this time. 1989 was a record, with nearly 2 million cars made. Fiat led the way with the Uno model being a huge success. The Panda and Tipo also added to the volume late in the decade. The negative was the more profitable larger models were not doing so well, but numerically at least it was the best of times for Fiat. Over 1.4 million fiat cars were made in 1989.

Alfa Romeo 33

Alfa Romeo also had a record in that same year, at 233,000 cars produced. The 33 and 75 were solid performers while the new 164 model was proving popular. For Autobianchi (exported as a Lancia) the Y10 was doing well. The Thedra and Gamma models were a success for Lancia.

On the downside, Innocenti was running out of time and production fell below Ferrari by 1990. The sizable 'Other' figure was based around Bertone, manufacturing in fringe models such as cabriolets and coupès in behalf of well known car companies.

Yr	Fiat	Alfa	Lancia	Auto -	Ferr-	Inno-	Mas-	Lam-	Other	Total
		Romeo		bianchi	ari	centi	erati	borg
81	874,419	197,287	78,257	76,987	2,566	23,187	528	89	4,020	1,257,340
82	925,147	188,773	68,162	78,047	2,223	21,646	2,265	110	10,978	1,297,351
83	972,785	206,926	104,896	80,149	2,366	13,688	5,333	184	9,204	1,395,531
84	1,014,274	200,103	102,658	88,292	2,841	17,151	6,180	231	7,553	1,439,283
85	972,687	157,625	127,322	99,896	3,125	15,218	5,668	249	7,366	1,389,156
86	1,231,605	168,074	139,728	87,803	3,640	12,687	4,133	238	4,544	1,652,452
87	1,226,722	192,024	164,567	109,619	3,902	10,443	3,658	313	2,052	1,713,300
88	1,371,014	229,003	132,626	132,151	3,996	10,392	3,001	284	1,846	1,884,313
89	1,410,137	233,207	158,552	153,236	3,821	9,141	2,617	392	866	1,971,969
90	1,325,414	223,643	168,702	144,464	4,292	4,221	2,224	308	1,404	1,874,672
Av	1,132,420	199,667	124,547	105,064	3,277	13,777	3,561	240	4,983	1,587,537

Data source: ANFIA.

Lancia Dedra