Fiat Group Automobiles South Africa (Pty) Ltd will, from the 1st June 2008, start reporting sales in terms of actual units licensed. (Already in 2007, FGASA initiated a change by basing its sales figures on the number of units registered rather than on the dealer retail reports.)
This latest change in reporting methodology is expected to have an impact on the retail report of the Fiat Group Brands in South Africa, including Fiat, Alfa Romeo and Fiat Professional in the months of May and June 2008.
According to Giorgio Gorelli, Managing Director of Fiat Group Automobiles SA, this move will most likely result in some anomalies when comparing FGASA licensed vehicle sales against NAAMSA reported sales and it’s for this reason that FGASA will only report to NAAMSA the total figures of activity, without the split by model or brand for May and June 2008.
The advantages, however, of only reporting licensed vehicles is that it will ensure much greater transparency of results as well as bring Fiat’s South African operation in line with international reporting structures.
FGASA data will allow a perfect match between reported sales and market share figures as and when these become available from the central system (e-Natis), as is already happening in other markets where the Fiat Group is operating.
