May was a good month for Fiat and Chrysler on the American market. The Detroit automaker's registrations finished 38 consecutive months of growth, posting the best May since 2007. Sales increase reached 11%, at 166.596 units, against 150.041 in the same period last year. The company communicates this, specifying that the performance of the Jeep, Dodge, Ram Truck and Fiat brands has proved to be particularly good, all growing on an annual basis.
In particular, registrations of the Lingotto in the United States grew by 1% in May, recording the fifteenth consecutive monthly increase and the best month of the year. The brand has reached the 100-car sales milestone for the first time since its return to the North American market in 2011.
Meanwhile, Flavius Zanonato, Minister of Economic Development, made it known that the Government is thinking of "helping Fiat" in difficulty due to the car market crisis, even if no incentives are foreseen. Zanonato, who met the top management of Lingotto in recent days, defined Sergio Marchionne and John Elkann as “extremely positive and collaborative. Above all, they care about the fact that the friendly relationship between the country and their company is strongly emphasized, which remains one of the largest in Italy, absolutely the largest in the manufacturing field”.
On the sidelines of a conference in Bologna, the minister specified that he had “committed himself in this direction: to help this large company which is having moments of difficulty linked to the automobile crisis which is affecting all of Europe. Today we sell 1,3 million in Italy, Fiat is 30% of this market, while five years ago we were over two million”.
At the beginning of the afternoon, Fiat's share on the Stock Exchange lost around half a percentage point.
