TURIN, Italy -

Coming in a year where it secured a larger stake of Chrysler among other activities, Fiat Group Automobiles reported this week that it posted revenues of 27.9 billion Euros in 2010, representing a 6-percent increase over 2009.

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Company executives indicated the impact of the decline in passenger car volumes of about 8.2 percent was compensated by the significant increase for light commercial vehicles, which posted a 27-percent volume gain.

In total, FGA delivered 2,081,800 cars and light commercial vehicles worldwide, down 3.2 percent over the prior year. For passenger cars only, FGA moved 1,691,400 vehicles, an 8.2-percent decrease from 2009.

In Europe, Fiat said deliveries were down 15.1 percent to 963,000 vehicles with the reduction also reflecting measures to realign dealer inventory levels to market demand. The company explained deliveries in Italy (down 16.3 percent) and Germany (down 53.2 percent) were heavily impacted by the significant decline in demand for smaller and CNG/LPG vehicles, following the phase-out of eco-incentives.

Officials also reported that deliveries were down in the United Kingdom (off by 17.5 percent), but remained nearly stable in France (up 0.9 percent). They highlighted deliveries were significantly higher in Spain (up 48.3 percent), but against particularly low 2009 volumes.

Fiat determined other notable volume performances were achieved in several of the company’s smaller markets, including the Netherlands (up 59.3 percent), Belgium (up 40.9 percent), Portugal (up 35.1 percent) and Denmark (up 78.7 percent).

A Deeper Look at 2010 European Market Performance

Fiat explained the European passenger vehicle market experienced an overall decrease of 4.9 percent last year over 2009 levels to approximately 13.8 million vehicles.

“Demand in the first part of the year was still positively influenced by government incentive programs,” Fiat insisted.

“However, beginning in the second quarter, registrations fell off significantly with a year-on-year decline of approximately 11 percent being recorded for the second half,” the company added.

In Germany — the county that Fiat said was the first European market to completely phase out these incentives — officials found demand was down 23.4 percent for the year. In Italy, the market declined 9.2 percent for the full year with the fall off in demand being particularly pronounced in the second half (off by 22.7 percent).

The automaker stressed that the decrease in France was more contained (a dip of 2.2 percent), as incentives were phased out progressively during the year. The company also pointed toward modest growth that was experienced in the United Kingdom (up 1.8 percent) and Spain (up 3.1 percent).

“FGA’s European market share for 2010 was impacted by the decision to reschedule the cadence of new product launches to the second half of 2011 in view of the contraction in market demand envisioned for the second half of 2010 and the first half of 2011,” company executives explained.

As a result in Europe, Fiat Group Automobiles determined it closed 2010 with a market share of 7.5 percent, down 1.1 percentage points over 2009.

In Italy, Fiat finished with a share of 30.1 percent, a decrease of 2.7 percentage points.

“Excluding the effect of the sharp reduction in demand for CNG/LPG vehicles — which were down 25 percent and where FGA is market leader — share would have been in line with 2009,” company officials said.

Fiat determined its share performance in Germany was impacted by the significant decline in demand in its core market segments. The greater than 40-percent demand drop pushed Fiat’s German market share penetration down to 3.0 percent, a 1.7-percentage point dip.

The OEM sustained modest decreases in share in France (off by 0.3 percentage points to 4.0 percent) and the United Kingdom (off by 0.5 percentage points to 3.0 percent). By contrast, the company determined its market share in Spain moved up 0.5 percentage points to 3.0 percent.

With regard to other European markets, Fiat insisted that it achieved a notable performance in the Netherlands. Officials found that’s where FGA’s eco-performing product range benefited from CO2 emissions based incentives, resulting in a 44-percent increase in registrations and a 0.8-percentage point gain in market share to 6.4 percent.

When looking at specific models in the European market, the company found the Fiat Panda and the Fiat 500 retained the top two positions in the A segment with the Fiat 500 achieving a net gain in share of 2.5 percentage points.

Also in Europe, officials determined market share for the Lancia brand settled at 0.7 percent, a year-over-year dip of 0.1 percentage point, while Alfa Romeo posted a 0.8 percent share, maintaining registration levels despite a contraction in the market due to the positive contribution of the new Giulietta during the second half of the year.

Commercial Vehicle Data

For light commercial vehicles, Fiat delivered a total of 390,400 units, representing a 27.1 percent year-on-year increase.

In Europe, Fiat Professional increased deliveries 19.7 percent to 183,300 units, achieving double-digit growth in all major markets including Italy (up 14.5 percent), France (up 21.7 percent), Germany (up 24.9 percent), the U.K. (up 66.1 percent) and Spain (up 46.9 percent).

Officials found demand in the European light commercial vehicle market was up 9.2 percent for the year, reflecting a partial recovery over the extremely low levels experienced in 2009. Increases were recorded in all major markets: France (up 10.7 percent), Italy (up 6.2 percent), Germany (up 14.0 percent), the U.K. (up 18.7 percent) and Spain (up 9.5 percent).

Fiat also mentioned light commercial vehicle demand was particularly significant in Brazil (up 29.5 percent over 2009). The company believes it was driven by the strong performance of the domestic economy.

Recapping Noteworthy 2010 Events

Along with its sales and revenue performance, Fiat now owns a quarter of Chrysler Group’s shares thanks to the automaker reaching the first performance-related metric in a series of three milestones detailed in Chrysler’s Operating Agreement, each of which automatically adds 5 percentage points to the stake owned by Fiat.

Apparently, the government gave Chrysler the green light to start building the Fully Integrated Robotized Engine for commercial use. It will be built at the automaker’s Dundee, Mich., plant. This is one of the key milestones that had to be reached for a stake increase.

Since this milestone has been met, Fiat’s share in the automaker moves from 20 percent to 25 percent.

The ownership makeup at Chrysler is now:

—UAW VEBA: 63.5 percent            

—Fiat: 25 percent               

—U.S. Treasury: 9.2 percent          

—Canadian Governments: 2.3 percent     

If and when the second milestone — which deals with bolstering revenue and sales outside of NAFTA countries — is met, Fiat’s share goes up to 30 percent.

Furthermore, workers at Fiat’s Mirafiori plant in Italy gave their collective green light to an agreement with the automaker in a referendum last week.

With workers voting to accept the terms — albeit narrowly, according to reports — it appears the facility will be used to build Jeep and Alfa Romeo vehicles to be distributed throughout the world.

The U.S. is also expected to receive vehicles from the factory.

Chief executive officer Sergio Marchionne argued that the new platform at the factory will help Fiat achieve robust production — as many as 280,000 units annually — and possibly create more jobs.