Dacia, Suzuki, Chinese gain as Italy's sales rebound slows in July

Italy's new-car sales grew at their lowest pace this year in July.

Demand rose 8.8 percent last month, below the double-digit percentage increases from January until May. In June, sales were up about 10 percent.

"This is the smallest growth rate this year, indicating that the market recovery is losing momentum," Dataforce analyst Benjamin Kiebies told Automotive News Europe.

Despite the slowdown, Dataforce forecasts full-year sales in Italy of 1.49 million, an increase of 11 percent on 2022.

However, the current level of new registrations is still 19 percent below the pre-COVID average.

Budget brands boom

Makers of affordable cars had a strong July, led by Dacia.

Renault's budget brand finished No. 3 in sales behind market-leader Fiat and second-ranked VW (see table below).

It is the first time Dacia has risen into the market's top three since September 2021, according to Dataforce.

Dacia was helped by the Sandero and the Duster, which had the No. 2 and No. 4 sales slots, respectively, in July.

Dacia sold 3,445 Sanderos (+35 percent) and 2,905 Dusters (+47 percent) in Italy last month, according to Dataforce.

The Fiat Panda was the market's No. 1-seller in July with a volume of 8,954 -- a gain on 25 percent on the same month last year.

Suzuki finished the month at No. 16 after boosting sales 127 percent. That was enough to push the Japanese brand ahead of rivals such as Opel and Skoda.

Italian company DR Automobiles, which sells rebadged models from China's Chery Automobile, finished the month at No. 19 after increasing sales more than 80 percent to 2,880.

MG, which has been making strong gains in Europe the last two years, boosted its volume fivefold in July, moving it ahead of Alfa Romeo and Mini last month, according to Dataforce.

The biggest monthly winner from a fuel-type perspective was gas, primarily models powered by LPG.

Demand for the fuel type rose 26 percent to 11,822 in July, led by models from Dacia and DR.

Sales of gasoline cars were up 15 percent in July to 62,472.

Electric cars gained 14 percent to 4,095, giving them a 3.4 percent market share compared with 9.7 percent for LPG an 51.5 percent for gasoline. Diesel was second overall with a share of 23.1 percent.