After breaking through the 1 million annual sales barrier last year, the midsized SUV segment in Europe remains very dynamic, as I predicted. Sales are up another 15% in the first quarter, and that’s before a highly anticipated newcomer enters the segment in the second quarter: the Renault Kadjar is expected to enter the segment top-3 when it hits full steam in the market.
For now, the model on which that newcomer is based, the Nissan Qashqai, defends its kingdom as strong as ever thanks to the new generation, and despite losing the 7-seater “+2” version. With sales up 21%, the Qashqai now holds a 20,5% share of the segment, which means one in every five midsized crossovers comes from the Sunderland factory in the UK.
The Volkswagen Tiguan hold on to its second place, but is showing signs of its age, with sales dropping 7%. It still has a comfortable gap with the two South-Korean offerings behind it. Both are up an equal 19% despite the Kia Sportage having just been facelifted last year while the Hyundai ix35 is in run-out mode, due to be replaced by the Tucson any moment now. [Read more…]
The high double-digit sales increases of small crossovers in Europe are slowing down to a still very impressive 34% in the first quarter of 2015, compared to adding 
This model change-over has given the VW Group twins Volkswagen Sharan and Seat Alhambra the opportunity to steal the limelight and take a one-two finish with a combined share of the segment of 62,5%. The performance of the Alhambra is especially noteworthy, as the model has increased its sales every year since its new generation arrived in showrooms in 2011, as opposed to most cars which peak shortly before slowly declining until the next update. In fact, if the model can keep up this pace through the rest of the year (which I doubt it can), it will score its highest sales ever, for all generations of the MPV.
With Q1 sales down 10%, the Citroën C4 Picasso barely holds on to its first position, while it hasn’t led the segment in any of the three months. The Renault Scenic trails by less than 300 units after being the segment best seller in Febuary and March, and will be completely renewed by the end of this year. The all-new Volkswagen Golf Sportsvan is less than 1.700 units behind the C4 Picasso in third place, after being the segment leader by a large margin in January.
After stabilizing at 
The traditional leader Volkswagen Passat tightens its stranglehold on the segment, with more than one in every three cars sold in this segment being the new generation Passat. The model sells more than double of its nearest competitor, the Opel/Vauxhall Insignia, down 3%.
The Ford Focus is stable on the first quarter of last year, despite its recent facelift. It does hold on to its second place, but just like its smaller sibling the Fiesta, it has strong March volume in the UK to thank for that. In January and February, the Skoda Octavia clearly outsold the Focus and even the Peugeot 308 came within 1.000 units for the two months combined. With over 32.000 units, more than half of the Ford’s volume in this quarter was registered in March alone.
As traditionally, the Ford Fiesta has held on to its lead, although the competition is getting stronger. The top-4 of the model ranking are within 10.000 units of each other, and only has its strong showing in the UK market in March to thank for its continued dominance. In January and February, the Volkswagen Polo was the segment leader, followed by the Renault Clio, pushing the Fiesta down into third place both months. But its best month in three years has helped the little Ford recover in March. It sold over 47.700 units in Europe that month, more than January and February combined, and more than 27.000 of those sales were registered in the UK.
It doesn’t help that droptop models don’t sell outside of Europe and the US, which means that the market remains limited to just Europe in the case of the French brands, who used to make some of the most popular cabriolets on the market with the Peugeot 207CC and 307CC / 308CC or Renault Megane CC. As these models are being phased out without any word on a ragtop version of their successors, sales of convertibles in France are down the harshest of all markets.