Italian car brands score sales goals

Italy didn’t qualify for the soccer (sorry, football) World Cup, but some national pride can be salvaged with their automotive fortunes at least here in Australia.

According to May year-to-date sales data, Alfa Romeo is up 36.1 per cent to 509 units. Of that, 248 Giulias are backed by 114 Stelvios – and that medium SUV’s stonking Q variant is still to come. Ferrari has sold 98 cars, up 24.1 per cent, while Lamborghini has shifted 55 units, up 10.0 per cent and with Urus to come.

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Only Maserati has let the Italian side down, although its 323 sales have only slipped 4.7 per cent, with increased Ghibli (up 30.5 per cent to 107 units) offset by decreased Levante (down 24.3 per cent to 168 units).

In something of a tri-nations battle, however, Italy is comfortably leading German and (especially) British opposition for growth.

Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz have stalled this year, despite a new model onslaught, while Porsche is down 14.8 per cent. The Giulia is selling at almost one-third the rate of the better-known Audi A4 (down 34.7 per cent to 635 sales), while Ghibli is just on that rate of BMW 5 Series sales (after a huge 2017, it has plummeted 49.7 per cent to 601 units).

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Jaguar won’t be as happy as Harry (and Megan), either, with its 890 sales down 26.4 per cent. It is now – despite improving its brand for a decade since the XF of 2008 – only 381 ahead of Alfa overall.

McLaren’s miniscule 38 sales are a quarter behind this time last year, while even Land Rover isn’t riding the SUV boom like it should, down 26.4 per cent to 890 sales. Even new Velar (with 696 sales) isn’t quite enough to offset the hugely off-the-pace Evoque (down 57.6 per cent to 597 sales) and Range Rover (down 44.2 per cent to 111 units).