The Italian new car market took a nosedive last month and Fiat sales fell sharply, although the Turin automaker saw a marginal rise in its market share, data out on Monday showed.
The transport ministry said that new cars sales in November fell 29.5% over the same month last year, compared to a drop of 18.89% in October.
Sales were 13.40% lower in the first 11 months of the year compared to the same period in 2007.
The Fiat group saw its year-on-year sales in November plunge 28.6%, more than double the 13.12% decline recorded in October.
Fiat sales for the first 11 months of the year were 11.6% lower than the same period last year.
The Italian automaker had some minor consolation from the fact that its market share in Italy rose to 31.28% from 30.9% in November 2007, although this was down slightly from its 32.82% share in October.
For the first 11 months of the year Fiat's market share averaged out to 31.93% as opposed to 31.30% for the same period last year.
Used car sales were also down in Italy, falling 12.45% from November 2007.
