Italy July 2012: Fiat Panda, Peugeot 208 & Range Evoque impress

The Range Rover Evoque hits its highest ranking ever in Italy this month: #35

* NOW UPDATED with actuals for the Top 50 best-selling models! Click on title to see *

Another sombre month for new car sales in Italy, down 22% year-on-year in July to 109,380 registrations and bringing the year-to-date total to  928,064 units, down 20% on 2011. The Fiat Panda celebrates its 7th consecutive month atop the monthly models ranking thanks to 9,008 sales and 8.2% share. It is the first time ever in the Panda nameplate’s 32 years that it manages to hold the Italian pole position for that many months in a row, beating its previous record of 6 consecutive months from August 2008 to January 2009.

Fiat Panda

The Fiat Punto is back down under 6% share at 5.8%, only the 6th time it ever does so in the nameplate’s 20 year career, 5 of which have occurred in the last 9 months: its worst ever share was reached in September 2008 (4.7%) followed by March 2012 (5.1%), February 2012 (5.4%), November 2011 (5.7%) and May and July 2012 (5.8%). The Fiat 500 rounds up the podium at 3.8%, which means the podium is 100% Fiat for the third consecutive month, the only 3 times in the last 12 months as well.

Peugeot 208

The Ford Fiesta is back up one spot to #4, followed by the Lancia Ypsilon (-1) and VW Golf (+5) while the Peugeot 208 brilliantly breaks into the Italian monthly Top 10 for the first time, up 6 ranks on June to #7 with 2,534 sales and 2.3% share. The Alfa Romeo Giulietta stays extremely solid at #8, the 7th time it ranks within the Top 10 in the last 12 months, as the Nissan Qashqai is up 4 spots to flirt with the Top 10 at #11 and 1.8% share.

Fiat Freemont

A few other models hit their highest ever ranking in Italy this month: the Fiat Freemont is up 2 spots to to #16 with 1,471 units and 1.3% share, the Fiat Qubo is up 6 to #22 at 1,095 sales and 1%, the Kia Sportage is up 21 to #33 at 852 units and 0.8% and the Range Rover Evoque is up a massive 24 spots to break into the monthly Top 50 (and Top 40!) for the very first time at #35 with 834 sales and 0.8%. Notice also the Audi Q3 up 14 to #27, now the best-selling Audi in Italy.

Previous month: Italy June 2012: Lancia Delta and Toyota Yaris at highest in 3 years

One year ago: Italy July 2011: Lancia Ypsilon at highest in 4 years

Full June 2012 Top 50 Ranking Table below.