Italy March 2022: Citroen C3 up to record #2, Dacia (+26%) defies market off -29.7%

The Citroen C3 is up to a record #2 in Italy in March.

The Italian new car market worsens again in the absence of any incentives, with March sales down a dizzying -29.7% or 50,000 cars year-on-year to just 119,497 units. The year-to-date tally is off -24.4% over the first 3 months of the year, that’s 109,000 less registrations than over the same period in 2021. Italian car buyers seem to have chosen used cars instead: they are up a whopping 35.9% year-on-year to 450,846 units and up 34.9% over the First Quarter to 1,205,939. Private sales exactly match the market at -29.7% to 73,872 and 60.9% vs. 61.3% a year ago and are down -25.6% to 216,556 and 63.1% vs. 64.5% year-to-date. Self-registrations implode -37.9% to 10,726 and 8.8% share vs. 10.1% in 2021 and are down -29.8% year-to-date to 32,638 and 9.5% vs. 10.3%. Long term leases limit their fall to -20.3% to 23,488 units and 19.4% share vs. 17.2% a year ago, while short term rentals freefall -47.5% to just 5,351 and 4.4% share vs. 5.9%, leading to a year-to-date tally down -38.3% to 10,125 and 3% share vs. 3.6%. Company sales drop -16.9% to 7,841 for the month and -11.7% to 20,907 year-to-date.

Looking at sales by alimentation, HEV remains the favourite, down -14.8% to 39,420 units and 32.5% share vs. 27% a year ago, this includes 11,106 full hybrids (+8.6%) and 28,314 mild hybrids (-21.5%). Year-to-date, HEV is down -4.1% to 115,911 and 33.8% share vs. 26.8% in 2021, including 31,667 full hybrids (+12.8%) and 84,244 mild hybrids (-9.2%). Petrol sales fall -37.6% to 33,164 and 27.3% share vs. 31% in 2021 and are down -37.9% over the First Quarter to 92,518 and 27% share vs. 33% in 2021. Diesel fares even worse at -39.2% to 25,541 and 21.1% share vs. 24.5% and is off -37.7% year-to-date to 71,501 and 20.8% share vs. 25.4% a year ago. PHEV is down -21.5% to 6,083 and 5% for the month vs. 4.5% and BEV uncharacteristically freefalls -38.8% to 4,511 units and 3.7% share vs. 4.3% a year ago and is down -14.9% year-to-date to 11,345 and 3.3% share vs. 3%. The only alimentation in positive is LPG up 6.9% to 11,244 and 9.3% share vs. 6.1% a year ago and up 16.6% year-to-date to 30,547 and 8.9% share vs. 5.8% in 2021.

Over in the brands ranking, Fiat sinks -41% to its lowest share since last September at 13% but easily keeps the leadership above Volkswagen (-35%) passing Ford (-29.1%). However Ford remains in 2nd place year-to-date. Toyota (-15.4%) resists somewhat and edges up one spot on last month to #4. Citroen (-20.6%) is up three to #5 while Dacia (+26%) is up one to #6 and once again the only year-on-year gainer in the Top 10 and even Top 19… Audi (-13.6%) beats the market at #8 which is not the case of Peugeot (-42.4%), Renault (-40%) and Opel (-38%) all imploding. Below, Kia (-1.5%) scores the only single-digit loss around, with DR Motor (+163.9%) breaking into the Italian Top 20 for the first time at #20 and outselling such established brands as Seat, Volvo and Mini. Tesla (-22.7%) is noticeably down at #24 while Cupra (+59.5%), Porsche (+11%), DS (+50.7%) and Honda (+11.3%) shine while newcomer MG (+3287.5%) starts from a very low year-ago launch base. Notice also Lynk & Co down to #41 with just 31 sales and Ferrari up 44.6%.

Model-wise, the Fiat Panda (-7.5%) is solid in first place with 8.5% share while the Citroen C3 (+16.3%) defies the negative market and jumps three spots on February to #2. This is a new ranking record for the nameplate, after hitting the monthly #3 position no less than eight times: in August 2003, November 2003, June 2004, July 2004, October 2017, December 2017, January 2019 and October 2020. The Lancia Ypsilon (-29.3%) is knocked down to third place ahead of the Dacia Sandero (+17.3%) up three ranks on February to #4 and now #3 year-to-date. The Ford Puma (-28.4%) is down two to #5 just as the Peugeot 208 (-12.3%) is up four to #6 and the Toyota Yaris (-40.7%) is up 6 to #7 but plunges year-on-year. The Jeep Compass (+23.2%) and Dacia Duster (-7.8%) also post solid performances in the remainder of the Top 10. The Toyota Yaris Cross is back up to #16 and is one of two recent launches in the Top 50 alongside the VW Taigo (#35). The Cupra Formentor celebrates its first Top 50 finish in Italy at #41.

Previous month: Italy February 2022: Dacia (+14%) one of the only islands of growth in market burdened -22.6%

One year ago: Italy March 2021: Market up 495.7% year-on-year but down -12.4% on two years ago, Fiat Panda and 500 on top

Full March 2022 Top 45 All-brands, Top 50 models and Top 10 BEVs below.