Fiat\'s sales on the European car market suffered another big fall in August, when they dropped to 37,687, 17.7% down on the same month in 2011. The Italian carmaker\'s sales in the European Union and the countries of the European Free Trade Association also dropped 16.4% in July and 16.7% in June with the economic crisis having a massive impact on auto purchases. In the first eight months of 2012, Fiat sold 557,090 new cars, 16.6% down on the same period last year. The August fall in sales took Fiat\'s share of the European market down to 5.2%, compared to 5.8% in August 2011. Fiat said in a statement that it had been penalised by the \"dreadful results of the Italian market, which were much more negative than Europe as a whole (down 21% in July, 20.2% in August)\".