Italy June 2023: Fiat at lowest ever share again, MG ZS cracks Top 10

First ever Top 10 finish in Italy for the MG ZS

New car sales in Italy jump 9.2% year-on-year in June to 138,927 units, leading to a year-to-date tally up 23% halfway through the year to 841,343. This is however down -22.3% when compared to pre-pandemic H1 2019. Private sales are pushy at +4% to 76,391 and 54.3% share vs. 57.1% in June 2022 and gain 10.1% year-to-date to 456,825 and 53.6% vs. 59.9% over the same period in 2022. Self registrations are up 14.4% to 11,563 for the month and up 24.3% to 74,174 YTD, long term leases soar 19.7% to 35,586 and 25.3% share vs. 23.1% in June 2022 and up 48.7% YTD to 220,075 and 25.8% share vs. 21.4%. Short-term rentals edge up 6.5% to 8,994 for June but surge 74% to 53,031 over the first 6 months of the year. Finally company sales jump 17.5% to 8,156 for the month and 20.4% to 48,228 so far this year.

Petrol registrations are up 6.9% to 40,073 and 28.5% share vs. 29.1% last year and up 24.2% YTD to 237,894 and 27.9% share vs. 27.6% over the same period in 2022. Diesel edges down -2.8% for the month to 25,960 and 18.5% share vs. 20.8% a year ago but gain 16.1% year-to-date to 165,473 and 19.4% share vs. 20.6% halfway through 2022. LPG is down -4.2% to 11,906 in June and up 25% to 74,789 YTD, while HEV are up 30.8% for the month to 48,937 and 34.8% share vs. 29.1% last year and up 31.2% YTD to 300,546 and 35.3% share vs. 33.1%. This includes 13,788 full hybrids (+39.8%) and 35,149 mild hybrids (+27.6%) in June and 81,454 full hybrids (+34.8%) and 219,092 mild hybrids (+29.9%) year-to-date. PHEV are up 6.5% both for the month (7,539) and YTD (39,753), while BEVs disappoint at -0.5% year-on-year to 6,159 but are up 30.8% YTD to 32,831.

The Alfa Romeo Tonale is up to a record #13 at home.

Fiat (-22.6%) lodges a catastrophic performance, completely against the positive market and down to just 9.4% share, a new lowest ever level for the 2nd consecutive month after hitting 9.8% in May. Volkswagen (+11.4%) is now only 1.2 percentage point below at 8.2% for the month. Are we going to see Volkswagen surpass Fiat in Italy? That would be a thunderbolt without precedent in this country. Toyota (-6.6%) stays in third place despite a weak performance, distancing Dacia (-16.1%) and Peugeot (-20.7%) also in a rut. In contrast the rest of the Top 10 brands all beat the market with double-digit year-on-year gains: Ford (+86%) is the most dynamic above Audi (+48.2%), Renault (+30.3%), BMW (+29.5%) and Jeep (+21.1%). Below, notice MG (+444.6%) breaking its monthly volume record, Mazda (+117%), Alfa Romeo (+110.4%), Suzuki (+107.3%) and Volvo (+68.3%) all in outstanding shape.

Illustrating the mediocre performance of the brand, the Fiat Panda (-10.5%) falls to just 4.9% share in June, its lowest since August 2021 (4.7%). The podium is unchanged on May and year-to-date with the Dacia Sandero (+5.3%) at #2 and the Lancia Ypsilon (+16.9%) at #3. The Ford Puma (+245.3%) surges year-on-year to #4 ahead of the Toyota Yaris Cross (+43.2%). All remaining Top 10 models are down, bar the MG ZS (+394%) up a whopping 13 spots on May to crack the Italian Top 10 for the first time at #10. Not far below, the new Alfa Romeo Tonale is up a further five ranks on last month to hit a record #13. It is back to the most successful recent launch in the country (<12 months) ahead of the Jeep Avenger down four spots on last month to #16. The Renault Austral also smashes its ranking record a #31.

Previous month: Italy May 2023: Fiat down to lowest ever share, Jeep Avenger up to #12

One year ago: Italy June 2022: Dacia (+33.7%), Peugeot (+18.5%) impress in market off another -15%

Full June 2023 Top 46 All brands and Top 50 models below.