Italy February 2021: Ford Puma up to record third place, market down -12.3%

The Ford Puma is up to a record #3 in February in Italy. Picture red-live.it

New car sales in Italy record a third consecutive double-digit loss in February at -12.3% to 144.138 registrations. Contrary to Spain which we’ve just covered, private sales are actually up in Italy this month at +11.4% to 94.150 units and 65.3% share vs. 51.4% in February 2020 and tilt up year-to-date at 185.810 (+5.1%) and 66.5% share vs. 55% over the same period last year. In contrast, long term leases drop -16.7% to 23.148 and short-term rental sales implode -75.1% to 5.796. In terms of fuel type, petrol sales drop -35.8% to 47.294 and 32.8% share vs. 44.8% a year ago, diesel is down -37.1%) to 36.027 and 25% vs. 34.9% but HEV is up 146.1% to 41.582 and 28.8% share vs. 10.3% in February 2020, PHEV is up 301.7% to 4.913 and 3.4% share vs. 0.7% and BEV up 36.6% to 3.457 and 2.4% share vs. 1.5%.

In the brands ranking, like last month the Top 2 best-sellers lose share year-on-year: Fiat (-18.1%) and Volkswagen (-32.2%) both fall significantly faster than the market, however the next five best-sellers all outpace it. Peugeot (-1.3%) almost stabilises its sales ahead of Ford (-10.7%) while Citroen (+2.8%) and Toyota (+6.2%) both manage an uptick and Opel (-4.3%) reduces its loss. Jeep (-0.8%) and Audi (-4.9%) also resist very well in the remainder of the Top 10. Just outside, Suzuki (+54.5%) lurches to the largest gain in the Top 25, with Volvo (+23.6%), Mazda (+14.7%), Dacia (+5.5%), Hyundai (+1.6%) and Skoda (+0.6%) also in positive. Among smaller brands, Great Wall (+481.8%), DR Motor (+188.4%), Smart (+80.5%), Ferrari (+14.9%) and Tesla (+8.9%) record the only additional gains.

Model-wise, the Fiat Panda (-7%) slows down its fall and holds 9.4% of the market vs. 9.2% so far this year. That’s almost 3.5 times the sales of the #2, the Lancia Ypsilon (-35%) back up one spot on January to #2. The Ford Puma (+43.8%) surges to a record third place, eclipsing its previous best of #4 hit last August while the Toyota Yaris (+59.1%) is down two spots on last month to #4 but posts the largest year-on-year gain in the Top 10. The Opel Corsa (+14.7%) and Citroen C3 (+9.5%) also manage an uptick in the remainder of the Top 10 while the Jeep Renegade (-1.4%) and Fiat 500X (-7%) resist better than the market. The Peugeot 2008 (+66.8%) is up to #12, with the Ford Kuga (+417%), Suzuki Ignis (+126%), Swift (+123%), Hyundai Tucson (+76.8%) and BMW X1 (+64.8%) also posting fantastic gains further down.

Previous month: Italy January 2021: Toyota (+19%) places Yaris at #2 again, defies market down -14.1%

One year ago: Italy February 2020: Ford Puma #1 hybrid in market starting to feel coronavirus sting (-8.8%)

Full February 2021 Top 42 brands and Top 50 models below.