New car registrations in Italy fell for the fifth straight month in May, down 49.61% from the previous year, the transport ministry said on Monday.

The Italian government imposed a nationwide lockdown in early March to contain the spread of the new coronavirus and started to gradually ease the restrictions on movement and business only in mid-May.

Fiat Chrysler's (FCA) sales fell 57.2% year-on-year in May according to Reuters calculations on the ministry data, for a market share of 22.26% compared with 37.86% in April.

(Reporting by Giulia Segreti and Gianluca Semeraro; editing by Valentina Za)