After the first nine months of 2014, the minicar segment is still in negative territory, although just. Sales are down 1% or less than 5.000 units on last year, which means sales have improved in the third quarter, thanks to a strong performance for the segment leader Fiat 500 and the new generation Kolin triplets.

The Fiat 500 goes from strength to strength and seems to be unstoppable. In September, European sales of the already six-year-old model were above the 20.000 cars per month mark for only the second time ever, after last March. The 500 hasn’t just confirmed its leadership of the segment, which it took from the Panda exactly one year ago, it even added more sales than any other model in the segment, increasing its share of the segment to 15%. By itself, the 500 sold almost as many cars as the Volkswagen Up!, Skoda Citigo and Seat Mii combined.

The Panda holds on to the second spot, followed by the VW Up! which has remained stable on last year. The fastest growing model in the top 15 of the segment is the Hyundai i10, which has been renewed at the end of last year. Sales of the new generation are up one third compared to its predecessor in the first nine months of 2013. If the i10 manages to hold on to its fourth place of the segment by the end of the year, it would be an all-time best for the model. [Read more…]

Sales of minicars in Europe are growing again in the first quarter of 2014 after a slight decline in 2013, although the growth is still behind other segments, at 3% vs. 7% for the whole market. Forecasts for this segment are showing a 20% growth in the next three years, thanks to new arrivals like the Renault Twingo, the PSA-Toyota triplets and the Smart Fortwo this year . As a result of this product offensive, 6 out of the top 15 models will be either all-new or just refreshed by the end of 2014, and 13 out of the top 20 will have been renewed or refreshed in the last four years. Another reason for the expected boom in this segment is the rebound of sales in Italy, which is Europe’s largest minicar market. Italy has been in a sales slump in the last couple of years, dipping to levels not seen since the 1960’s.

The Fiat 500 is holding on to the first position it took from the Fiat Panda last year. After 2 months, the Panda was in the lead of the segment, but the 500 had an excellent month of March, outselling its sister by almost 7.000 units. This underscores the popularity of the 500 in the UK, where the model regularly scores a monthly top-10 position. It was the 8th best selling car in the UK in March, which is traditionally by far the biggest selling month of the year, thanks to the changeover to the new license plates. [Read more…]

The minicar segment in Europe has changed at the same pace as the rest of the market, at -2% from 2012 to 2013. This year, the segment has a new sales leader: the already 6-year-old Fiat 500 has surpassed its sibling Fiat Panda to take the crown of the segment for the first time.

The VW Up! is closing in on the Panda as well, as it leaves its twin siblings Skoda Citigo and Seat Mii far behind. The Up! actually sold almost double of the other two combined. This is a very skewed ratio compared to the PSA/Toyota-triplets, which are less then 2.000 sales separated from each other.

The Lancia Ypsilon has gone from -4% and #10 after three quarters to +3% and #7 by the end of the year. It has sold pretty good in Italy, where almost 80% of Ypsilons are sold. Lancia is likely to stop selling cars outside of Italy, and will discontinue all other models as well, considering three quarters of all Lancias sold are Ypsilon. [Read more…]

The minicar segment in Europe as a whole saw flat in the first three quarters of 2013 compared to the same period last year. Minicar-specialist Fiat is the traditional leader of the segment, although Panda sales are down and first place has been taken by its sister Fiat 500, with VW Up! becoming a serious threat for second place as well.

Zooming in on the battle between the two triplets in the ranking, the Bratislava-built Up!, Citigo and Mii rack up 154.734 sales (+44%) between them, while their much older rivals Aygo, C1 and 107 still hold strong with 137.506 combined sales (-15%). What’s interesting, is that the Kolin-built triplet divide sales pretty evenly among themselves, while VW Up! takes about two thirds of the three model’s combined sales, almost 4,5 times as many as its little sister Seat Mii. Read my article about Seat’s fate within the VW-Group, where I mention this phenomenon as well.

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