Fiat's star shone brightly in an otherwise dim European automobile market last month, in part due to strong sales in Italy, sector sources said on Wednesday.
New car sales in Europe in April dipped 0.6% over the same month last year, while Fiat group sales leapt 7.7%.
This allowed Fiat to increase its European market share to 8.5%, from 7.9% in April 2006.
For the first four months of the year, European sales were off 0.2% while Fiat's were up 6.3%,
Bucking the downward trend in Europe, new car sales in Italy last month jumped 9.6% over April 2006, thanks in part to government incentives to trade in older cars for more environmentally friendly ones.
