Italy 1998: Fiat Punto, Panda and Lancia Y dominate

Fiat Punto

Fiat Panda

* See the Top 100 best-selling models by clicking on the title! Many thanks to Marc *

While the Italian car market stays stable at a very high level with 2,374,703 registrations, the Fiat Punto celebrates its 5th year in a row atop the models ranking even if its market share slips down to (a still impressive) 12.1% at 288,477 sales, down 23%.

Lancia Y

The fight for the 2nd place is very tight: the Lancia Y was holding that position at half-year but it got passed by the Fiat Panda by year-end, still #2 no less than 18 years after its original launch in 1980 with 118,131 sales vs. 117,688 for the Y, both models holding 5% of the market.

The Opel Corsa is just below at 107,309 sales and up 2 spots, followed by the Fiat Bravo/a now counted together (-30%) and the VW Polo. The other event of 1998 is the replacement of the Fiat Cinquecento (still #6 in April) by the Fiat Seicento, a bit shy at first but up to #5 in November and #14 over the Full Year.

Previous year: Italy 1997: Fiat Punto, Bravo/a, Panda and Cinquecento on top

Next year: Italy 1999: Fiat Punto best-seller for 6th consecutive year

Full Year 1998 Top 100, March to June, October & November Top 10 Ranking Tables below.