Italy January 2020: Opel Corsa at highest in 8 years, Peugeot 3008 breaks into Top 10 in market down -5.8%

The Opel Corsa hits its highest Italian ranking since December 2011.

The FY2019 article has now been updated with the Top 200 models.

At -5.8% to 156.301 registrations, the Italian market drop in January is smaller than Spain (-7.5%) and France (-13.4%) and with Italy being traditionally stronger at the start of the year this is very encouraging news for the rest of 2020. A look at sales by channel however dampens this enthusiasm, as the market is kept alive by rental sales shooting up 19.4% to 39.884 units and 25.5% share vs. 20.3% in January 2019 including 13.858 short-term rentals (+28.3%), 23.102 long-term leases (+18%). In contrast, company sales edge down -4.3% to 24.455 units and a stable 15.6% share but private sales implode -13.9% to just 91.962 and 58.8% share vs. 64.3% a year ago. Petrol sales (-3%) hold very well at 72.642 and 46.5% share vs. 45.1% in January 2019, unlike diesel registrations (-23.4%) down to 52.344 and 33.5% of the Italian market vs. 41.2% a year ago. GPL (-21%) also struggles at 9.615 and 6.2% share vs. 7.3% while hybrids surge 82% to 15.643 and 10% share vs. 5.2% and EVs shoot up 586.6% to 1.943 and 1.2% of the market.

First ever Top 10 month for the Peugeot 3008 in Italy.

Over in the brands ranking, Fiat (+5.7%) starts the year in unusually positive fashion, securing a second straight year-on-year gain, third in the past five months and strongest since August 2017 but also hitting its highest home market share since last May at 16.6%. Volkswagen (+0.9%) also defies the market slump with a tiny uptick, meaning the Top 2 brands in market also post the only year-on-year gain in the Top 11. Among this lot, Citroen (-1.7%), Jeep (-4.2%) and Lancia (-5.4%) manage to contain their loss enough to gain share year-on-year but Dacia (-26.9%), Opel (-18.4%), Ford (-18.3%), Peugeot (-13.1%) and Toyota (-11.3%) are all hit hard. Not as hard as Smart (-83.2%) though: the brand filled up on combustion sales in November (5.609) and December (7.551) and accordingly sinks in January (301). Further down, Tesla (+438.9%), DS (+194.3%), Porsche (+121.3%), Mahindra (+92.6%), Ferrari (+50%), Lexus (+44.3%), Lamborghini (+39.1%), Seat (+31.4%), Skoda (+29.5%), DR Motor (+28.8%), Audi (+22.4%), Mazda (+16.8%) and BMW (+11.1%) post the largest gains in market.

The Ford Puma lands at #27, the highest of any market we covered so far.

Model-wise, the Fiat Panda (-1.3%) improves to 9.2% share, its highest since October 2015 (9.3%), distancing the Lancia Ypsilon (-5.4%) at 4% of its home market, its highest in a year. The VW Polo (-5.8%) rallies back up 11 spots on last month to close the podium two units above the Renault Clio (-5.5%) and five above the Fiat 500X (+5%). The Opel Corsa (+38.1%) now unleashes the power of its new generation, shooting up 30 ranks on December to #7, its first Top 10 finish since September 2015 (#9) and highest Italian ranking since December 2011 (#5). The VW T-Cross is back up 14 spots to #9, its 4th Top 10 finish in the past 5 months while the Peugeot 3008 (+16.3%) scores its first ever Top 10 month in Italian history at #10, doing one more than its previous record of #11 hit last November. There are more ranking records further down, by the Ope Crossland X (#12), Ford Puma – landing directly at #27 for its first month of sales, Citroen C5 Aircross (#34) and Seat Arona (#46) both securing its first ever Italian Top 50 entry.

Previous post: Italy Full Year 2019: Fiat down to lowest-ever share at 14.9% and 3rd lowest volume in 60 years, Dacia Duster up to #3

One year ago: Italy January 2019: Italy tumbles down -29.1% to lowest ever share, Lancia, Dacia, VW and Opel up in market down -7.9%

Full January 2020 Top 45 brands and Top 50 models below.