Italy Full Year 2021: Fiat Panda and 500 dominate in market up 5.5%

The Fiat 500 is up to a record 2nd place at home in 2021.

Consult over 90 years of Italian Historical Data here.

The Italian new car market is up a shy 5.5% year-on-year in 2021 to 1,457,952 units as the microchip shortage continued to impact stocks and sales with a -27.5% drop in December. Note 2021 is down -23.5% on the pre-pandemic volumes of 2019. Private sales trail the market slightly at +4.1% to 922,745 units and 62.5% share vs. 63.6% a year ago, self registrations are down -5.8% to 145,642 and 9.9% share vs. 11.1% in 2020 but leases soar 20.3% to 258,870 units and 17.5% share vs. 15.4% last year. Short-term rental sales edge down -1.5% to 64,403 and company sales gain 14.7% to 83,733. Looking at fuel types, petrol drops -16.3% to 437,731 and 29.7% share vs. 37.5% a year ago, diesel sinks -27.7% to 333,635 and 22.6% share vs. 33.1% in 2020 and GPL gains 14.4% to 107,819 and 7.3% share vs. 6.8%. Electrified sales are the big winner of 2021. HEV is up 91.6% to 427,934 and 29% share vs. 16% a year ago, including 325,512 mild hybrid (MHEV) up 104.8%. PHEV is up 152.7% to 69,312 and 4.7% share vs. 2% last year and BEV is up 107.6% to 67,542 and 4.6% share vs. 2.3% in 2020.

In the brands ranking, Fiat (+5.8%) matches the market to see its share unchanged at 15.3%, its 2nd lowest ever historically. Volkswagen (-1.6%) endures the only year-on-year loss in the Top 4 and drops to 8.6% share. In contrast Toyota (+19.2%) is up three spots on last year to land on the third step of the podium with 5.8% of the market. Peugeot (+3.2%) is up one rank to #4 but Ford (-9.6%) and Renault (-13.2%) are both down two to #5 and #6 respectively. Citroen (+0.8%) and Jeep (+6.8%) camp on their 2020 ranking at #7 and #8 while both Dacia (+15.5%) and Audi (+11.8%) shine with double-digit gains to round out the Top 10. Below, Cupra (+2941.3%), DR Motor (+139.9%), Tesla (+58.9%), Hyundai (+34.8%), Kia (+23.8%), Mazda (+22.8%), Maserati (+21.1%), Suzuki (+17.5%), Lexus (+16.2%), Subaru (+14.5%), Jaguar (+13.7%), BMW (+11.4%) and Mini (+10.4%) stand out with solid upticks.

Model-wise, the Fiat Panda (+1.7%) celebrates 10 consecutive years atop the annual Italian charts and sees its share thaw a little at 7.6%. This is still 2.5 times any other nameplate in the market. The Fiat 500 surges 42.7% and three spots on 2020 to land at a record 2nd place, with 70% of its volume being the MHEV variant and 24% the BEV. The Lancia Ypsilon (+1.6%) is knocked down to third place overall, while the Jeep Renegade (+13.7%) is up two ranks to #4, a new annual ranking record for the nameplate. The Toyota Yaris (+10.2%) is also up two spots to #5 but got cannibalised by the Yaris Cross towards the end of the year (-70.4% in December), the latter hitting a record #5 in December. The Fiat 500X (+0.5%) is stable but drops three ranks to #6 ahead of the Citroen C3 (+6.3%) and Dacia Sandero (+3.5%) up two to a record #8. The Jeep Compass (+6.3%) also breaks its ranking record at #9 as does the Ford Puma (+18.3%) at #10. #4 last year, the Renault Clio (-18.7%) tumbles down to #14 in 2021 whereas in sales order the Peugeot 2008 (+32%), Hyundai Tucson (+122.8%), Suzuki Ignis (+29.2%), Swift (+39.1%), Ford Kuga (+34.5%), Kia Picanto (+41.5%) and Sportage (+43.8%) lodge some of the best performances in the remainder of the Top 50.

Previous month: Italy November 2021: Toyota Yaris Cross up to #7, sales down -24%

Previous year: Italy 2020: Market falls -27.7% to lowest since 2014, Fiat hits lowest volume since 1959

Two years ago: Italy 2019: Fiat down to lowest-ever 14.9% share and 3rd lowest volume in 60 years, Dacia Duster up to #3

Full December 2021 Top 45 All-brands and Top 50 models below.

Full Year 2021 Top 50 All-brands, Top 50 models, Top 20 PHEV models and Top 30 BEV models vs. Full Year 2020 figures below.