Fiat in January overtook Renault for European sales by capturing 8.8% of the new car market compared to 8% for the French carmaker, it was reported on Thursday.
Fiat said group sales in Europe climbed 4.8% last month compared to January 2006.
Volkswagen was the top seller in Europe in January, followed respectively by Peugeot-Citreon, Ford and GM.
Overall new car sales in Europe last month rose 1.1% over January 2006, while sales in Italy jumped 3.5% for the same period.
News of Fiat's performance in Europe send the group's group's stock over the 18-euro threshold in Milan with a gain of some 2% over the previous day's. It was estimated that 1.3% of Fiat's stock traded hands in the first 30 minutes of trading, more than half the number of shares traded on Wednesday.
Fiat's market share in January of last year stood at 8.5% while last December it was 7%.
Renault saw its market fall from 8.7% in January 2006 to 8% last month due to a sharp drop in sales for the Renault marque, which had 7.7% share of the market last month compared to 8.4% in January 2006..
Fiat Group Automobiles said European sales rose for all marques in the group with Alfa Romeo's market share in January inching up to 1.1%, from 1% a year earlier, while Lancia's share hit 1% last month compared to 0.9% in January 2006.
Fiat added that group sales increased last month on all leading European markets and in Germany the group had a 2.7% share of the market, in France a 3.4% share and in Britain a 2.2% share.
The Fiat marque's best-selling models last month were the Grande Punto and Panda, which were also the two best-selling cars in Europe.
Fiat said it expected Fiat marque sales to increase even further with its new Bravo 'C' segment car now hitting the showrooms.
