Research and Markets: Italy Autos Report Q3 2011 - Auto Production Output to Reach Over 947,000 Units in 2015, Compared With 817,536 Units In 2010

DUBLIN--July 14, 2011: Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Italy Autos Report Q3 2011" report to their offering.

The Italy Autos Report provides industry professionals and strategists, corporate analysts, auto associations, government departments and regulatory bodies with independent forecasts and competitive intelligence on Italy's automotive industry.

The downturn in the Italian new vehicle sales market has continued well into 2011. After a near 7% year-on-year (y-o-y) fall in 2010, passenger car sales fell over 15% y-o-y in the first five months of this year, to 993,600 units, according to estimates from the Italian Association of the Automotive Industry (Anfia), highlighting the overall weakness in the economy.

With consumers continuing to reign in their spending and businesses remaining cautious of a solid uptick in economy, BMI expect sales of both passenger cars and commercial vehicles to remain lacklustre in 2011. As such, BMI have revised down car sales forecast from a fall of nearly 3% y-o-y to one of close to 6% y-o-y this year. With commercial vehicle demand poised for a moderate 4.2% y-o-y growth (mostly on the back of back effects), BMI expect the overall new vehicles market to fall nearly 5% y-o-y, to 2.11mn units, in 2011.

Meanwhile, the outlook for Italy's production remains gloomy. Fiat, under pressure to cut costs, is considering slimming its domestic operations or seeking cheaper production bases in Poland and Serbia. If Fiat chooses the latter, it could put severe downside risks on BMI's forecast. At present BMI expect output to reach over 947,000 units in 2015, compared with 817,536 units in 2010 (according to Anfia estimates).

Fiat is aggressively moving ahead with its ambitions of international expansion. In June, it increased its ownership in US carmaker Chrysler to 52% and there is strong possibility that this could be increased to nearly 70% in the medium term. Much of Fiat's strategy towards improving its profitability is currently directed towards producing more vehicles to improve economies of scale. It hopes to achieve this by combining its operations with Chrysler and using the partnership to re-enter the US market. The objective of a stake increase is to gain enough control on Chrysler to allow the two companies to operate as closely as possible, ranging from shared production to integrated marketing.

Uncertainties in domestic vehicle sales and the shaky future for autos production in Italy mean it is ninth in BMI's Risk-Reward Ratings for the autos industry in Europe. Italy now ranks way behind its other Western European peers UK, Germany and France and scores poorer than the leading emerging European markets of Russia, the Czech Republic, Poland and Turkey. While stronger economic growth will partly help improve its score, BMI see little scope for Italy moving up the ratings unless it improves its production competitiveness.

Key Topics Covered:

• Executive Summary
• SWOT Analysis
• Global Overview
• Regional Overview
• Business Environment Ratings
• Macroeconomic Forecast
• Regulatory Environment
• Key Players
• Company Developments
• Company Monitor
• Fiat

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