Italy November 2012: Fiat 500L breaks into Top 10! UPDATE

Fiat 500L

* NOW UPDATED with actuals for the Top 50 best-selling models and brands! See title *

No improvement in sight for new car sales in Italy: down 20% year-on-year both in November to 107,269 registrations and year-to-date at 1,322,153 units. After breaking the 10% market share barrier for the first time in 23 years last month, the Fiat Panda stays at very high levels in November, selling 10,280 units for a 9.6% share and reinforcing its 2012 leadership at 110,978 sales and 8.4%. Reversely the Fiat Punto is stuck at lowest-ever levels: at 5,201 units and 4.8%, its 4th ever month below 5% share after last October (4.7%), last August (4.6%) and September 2008 (4.7%).

Ford B-Max

The Ford Fiesta stays #3 but drops to 3% share, ahead of the Lancia Ypsilon (+2), Fiat 500 (-1), Peugeot 208 (-1) and VW Polo (+1). The Nissan Qashqai spends its 2nd month in a row in the Top 10, up 2 spots on October to #8 with 2,328 sales and 2.2%, equalling its highest share ever in the country also reached in January 2009. But the biggest event by far this month in Italy is the arrival in the Top 10 of the Fiat 500L, up a huge 40 spots on October to land directly at #9 with 2,115 units and 2%.

Fiat Idea

If confirmed across Europe, the 500L could be the success story Fiat had been needing to get its finances back in order… It could be a case of the ‘right car at the right time’ for the Italian car manufacturer. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves (yet) but Fiat’s previous incursion into the mini MPV segment, the Fiat Idea, never did better than #11 in June 2005… So the Fiat 500L has already outperformed the Idea only a couple of months into its launch.

Land Rover sales are up 19% year-on-year in Italy this month.

Further down, the BMW 3 Series confirms its great shape, up one further spot to #22, the Mercedes A-Class is up 13 to #23 thanks to the new generation now widely available, the Ford B-Max lands at a world-best #26 with 956 sales and 0.9%, the BMW X3 stays really solid at #35 while the BMW X1 is up to #46. There is now also a Top 45 All-brands ranking available! The only car makers to progress this month are Peugeot at #5 (+6%), Kia at #16 (+10%), Land Rover at #23 (+19%), Jaguar at #32 (+17%), Infiniti at #38 (+50%) and Lamborghini at #43 (+50%)…

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One year ago: Italy November 2011: Fiat Panda gets stronger

Full November 2012 Top 50 models and Top 45 brands Ranking Tables below.