Sales of small crossovers in Europe took a pauze of their booming growth in recent years. The segment grew by 5% in 2017, to just under 1,51 million units, or 9,7% of the total market, up from 9,5% in 2016. In Q4, volume was up 14% again thanks to new brands entering the segment. The entire top-5 showed single digit growth or declines, indicating the growth is indeed fueled by new entrants. Even with a 2% decline and a resulting one full percentage point of share of the segment, the Renault Captur still rules and is the only nameplate in the class to sell over 200.000 units. Its closest rivals are still the Peugeot 2008 and Opel/Vauxhall Mokka, both with a 3% increase, although the latter was down by 15% in Q4, potentially from internal competition from the newly launched Crossland X, landing at #14 for the year after taking 6th place in the fourth quarter. The new generation Dacia Duster has started sales early 2018, but the outgoing version managed to show a 4% increase last year after a 13% gain in Q4. This is a new annual record for the nameplate. One of the models that made this segment popular Nissan Juke is down 6% but manages to leapfrog the Fiat 500X to reclaim 5th place even though it is one of the oldest models in the class. [Read more…]
European sales 2017 Q1-Q3 small crossover segment
The small crossover segment in Europe has definitely hit a ceiling as sales were up just 4% in Q3 even though a slew of new models has been launched during the past few months. For the first nine months of 2017, the segment is up by just 3% to a record 1,13 million sales. As those new entrants gain traction with deliveries, the segment should continue its growth into 2018, but logically even when the absolute growth stays strong, as the segment gets bigger it will get harder to keep up those double digit figures of recent years. After a 12% loss in Q2, segment leader Renault Captur is down by just 2% in Q3 thanks to its facelift. However, the #2 Opel/Vauxhall Mokka was just 1.700 sales behind this quarter, closing in on the YTD #2 spot by just 77 sales. For now, the Peugeot 2008 still holds that second place, but it was down by 12% in the third quarter and was almost down to 4th place as it outsold the Dacia Duster by only 1.500 units. The Duster returns to the black even though its replacement has already been revealed. YTD, the top-5 is relatively stable, including the Nissan Juke, despite being one of the oldest models in the segment. [Read more…]
European sales 2017 first half small crossover segment
Sales of small crossovers in Europe are starting to plateau after booming growth in recent years. The segment grew by just 5% in Q2 and is now up 10% in the first half, to a record 853.391 units. However, as the segment leader has just been facelifted and a whole bunch of new models are ready to enter the segment, expect the growth to continue for the rest of this year and next. The Renault Captur is down for the first time in its career, losing 12% in the second quarter and 6% year-to-date, as the facelifted version is just making its way into the showrooms. Its segment leadership remains uncontested, as it still sold more than any other model in both quarters. Still, its closest two rivals, the Peugeot 2008 and the Opel/Vauxhall Mokka continue to grow and therefore the top-3 is getting closer to each other but also distancing themselves from the rest of the segment. In 4th place we still find the Dacia Duster, which is stable but therefore loses a full percentage point of share compared to the first half of 2016.
European sales 2017-Q1 small crossover segment
The small crossover segment continues to boom again outgrowing the overall market by a 2-to-1 ratio at +16% to 435.000 sales. The small crossover segment is already almost as large in terms of unit sales than the compact and midsized crossover segments combined. And new models will continue to enter the segment, so don’t expect this growth curve to flatten anytime soon. Meanwhile, the Renault Captur holds on to the segment leadership it has held ever since its launch, but does so by the skin of its teeth. With sales virtually stable as a facelift is imminent, the Captur feels the already facelifted Peugeot 2008 breathing down its neck thanks to an 18% increase, now just 1.200 sales behind the leader. In third place we stil find the Opel/Vauxhall Mokka X, up 12% and distancing the top-3 players from the rest of the segment.
European sales 2016 small crossover segment
After more than 1 million small crossovers and SUVs were sold in Europe in 2015, this remains one of the fastest growing segments with an increase of 16% to 1,4 million sales in 2016, more than half the volume of the subcompact hatchbacks, Europe largest segment and the models on which most of these crossovers are based. The growth is mostly fueled by recent model introductions, as proven by the fact that the entire top-4 loses share of the segment. Still, only two models in the top-10 lose volume in 2016, although that figure doubles to four in the last quarter. As expected, the Renault Captur holds on to the segment lead and becomes the first small crossover to sell over 200.000 units annually in Europe. More surprisingly, the Captur manages this performance without having been updated since its launch while its two closes rivals have been facelifted in 2016. Of these two, the Opel/Vauxhall Mokka sees stable sales and loses its second place to the Peugeot 2008, the fastest growing model in the top-4.
European sales 2016 Q1-Q3 small crossover segment
At +23% in the first nine months of 2016, the small crossover segment is still one of the fastest growing mainstream segments in Europe. Compared to the same period of last year, the segment has added almost 190.000 units of volume, pushing it past the one million sales mark after just three quarters of the year, a figure which it only hit in December of last year. Small crossovers outsold their larger counterpart midsized crossovers in the second quarter, but have fallen back behind again in Q3 as a result of surging sales in that segment thanks to a number of new launches there. The Renault Captur continues to improve but also to lose its dominant market share as the number of players in this segment grows. Its closest two challengers, the Peugeot 2008 and Opel/Vauxhall Mokka have both been facelifted this year and had a neck-and-neck race in Q3, which means the former holds on to 2nd place of the segment year-to-date.
European sales 2016 first half small crossover segment
The small crossover segment is still the fastest growing mainstream segment in Europe at +28% and over 150.000 additional sales in the first half of 2016. But what’s more earthshaking is that for the first time ever, small crossovers outsold their larger counterpart midsized crossovers in the second quarter of 2016: 367.000 vs. 363.000. As a result, the “Captur-segment” is within 23.000 sales of the “Qashqai-segment” for the first half and could become the bigger of the two by year-end. Almost all models share in the glory, as only two out of the 17 remaining models lost volume, and by less than 1.000 units combined, while 11 models show either double digit or triple digit growth, or are entirely new. The segment leader Renault Captur keeps improving as well, but also keeps losing share as it grows slower than the segment as a whole at +10%. The Captur’s leadership is unthreatened though, as its closest rival of last year Opel/Vauxhall Mokka improved just 3% as it awaits a facelift, and that has allowed the already updated Peugeot 2008 to leapfrog the Mokka and reclaim the #2 spot thanks to sales up 13%.
European sales 2016 Q1 small crossover segment
The small crossover segment is still the fastest growing in Europe at +30% and almost 80.000 additional sales in the first quarter of 2016. That means this segment is now bigger in volume than the midsized crossover segment was in the same period last year. The growth is fueled by new products, but also the existing models keep improving steadily, with just 3 models in the top-15 losing sales, and none more than 5%. The Renault Captur remains the best selling small crossover in Europe, but loses share as it grows by just 4%. The competition is closing in, as the Peugeot 2008 adds 10% to its volume of last year and leapfrogs the Opel/Vauxhall Mokka to take second place. Until last year, France was the biggest market for small crossovers, and the two French models benefited from their home market strength. Now they’re starting to gain popularity across Europe, including the UK, where the Captur is a top-25 player and Renault’s best selling model. A welcome success for the French brand which was almost decimated across the Channel just a few years ago.
European sales 2015 Small Crossover segment
The Small crossover segment has been the hottest segment in Europe for a while now and the end is not in sight as new players continue to broaden the choice for car buyers. In 2015, the segment grew by 46% as more than 1 million small crossovers were sold for the first time ever, which makes it bigger than for example the midsized MPV segment (Renault Scenic, VW Touran etc.). Only one model in the top-15 sees its volume decrease, albeit by a slight 2% and except for one more model, all others are either up by double digits or better, or entirely new to the segment. In this onslaught of increased competition, the top-5 all lose share but none as much as the leader Renault Captur, which loses more 4 percentage points despite improving sales by another 18% to almost 200.000 units. This is an excellent performance from a model which was estimated by Renault itself to sell about 120.000 annual units.
However, the Captur is under threat from the Opel/Vauxhall Mokka, which is up 28% and therefore adds more volume than the Captur (+35.809 vs. +30.046). With a facelifted Mokka on display at the upcoming Geneva Auto Show in March and Renault busy launching the new Scenic, that trend is likely to continue this year, although I expect the French crossover to keep the lead.
European sales 2015 Q1-Q3 Small Crossover segment
The Small Crossover segment is still one the hottest segment of the market, besides the tiny EV segment, and continues to surge at a 50% growth rate as new entrants keep being introduced to the segment while the existing models keep growing. There are no less than 5 new players in the segment this year and only one model in the top-12 loses volume so far this year, and that’s only by a mere 250 units. You won’t be surprised to still find the Renault Captur on top of the ranking, although that position is getting more hard-fought by the quarter, as the Opel/Vauxhall Mokka was only 1.300 units behind in the past three months combined. That means the Mokka has firmly consolidated its second place in the segment and proves to be a second, badly needed, successful model with the Adam minicar.
The Peugeot 2008 simply can’t keep up with the sales volume of the two leaders, but still increases its lead over the Dacia Duster, which is now really starting to show its age, but there’s nothing released yet on a possible replacement. The Duster barely managed to outsell the Nissan Juke in Q3 and is likely to drop a few places in 2016 as the only Unique Selling Point it has to keep up with the fresh new product being launched is its bottom-basement price. [Read more…]