The compact crossovers segment in Europe has been growing briskly in recent years, but in the first half of 2019 that growth has stalled as the segment grew by just 400 sales to just over 951.000 sales. That means it now makes up 11,4% of the total Euorpean car market, up from 11% in 2018. We’ve separated the tables of the compact and midsized crossover segments but still feature them in one post and in one graph as the models in these classes are so close to each other in size and there are so many different opinions on which models belong in which of these segments. Combined, sales in these segments are down 1% to 14,1% of the total European car market, and VW Group improves its share of these segments to 24,4% while Renault-Nissan is down to 19,7% and PSA grows to 19,6% of these segments combined, for a whopping 63,8% share by just three manufacturers.
Note: clicking on the model name opens the sales data page for that model; clicking year in the legend turns the display for that year on/off
Photo credit: largus.frThe traditional class leader Nissan Qashqai loses a significant chunk of its advantage over its rivals with a loss of 14% and two percentage points of share. The Volkswagen Tiguan in 2nd place is also down, but by just 7% and closing in quickly, having outsold the Qashqai in Q2 by nearly 4.000 sales. The #3 Peugeot 3008 loses 4% and wasn’t far behind the Nissan either in the second quarter. The top-8 ranking remains unchanged on last year, but every nameplate of those eight delivers fewer vehicles in the first half of 2019 compared to the year before. Biggest losers in that top-8 are the Ford Kuga, down 18% and the Kia Sportage, down 13% while the best performers are the Toyota C-HR and Renault Kadjar, both down by just 1%. The C-HR started 2019 promising in 4th place, but was #7 in Q2 which leads to a 6th place for the first half. The Skoda Karoq is closing in on the top-8 as well, distancing itself from the Opel/Vauxhall Grandland X. The Seat Ateca continues to perform well with a gain of 13%. The Citroën C5 Aircross sold almost a similar number as the Ateca in Q2 and easily outsold the Jeep Compass and Mazda CX-5.
In the rest of 2019 the main product news are the next generation Kuga and the arrival of the Mazda CX-30 which is positioned half a segment below the CX-. Of less significance sales-wise is a next generation SsangYong Korando (of which an all-electric version is planned) and perhaps MG will bring the HS to its UK dealers. The Ateca will be updated this year, but the big news in terms of technology is that plug-in hybrid technology is coming to the compact crossover segment: PSA will launch PHEV versions of its 3008, Grandland X and C5 Aircross, and Jeep will launch a Compass PHEV.
| Compact SUV segment | 2019-H1 | 2018-H1 | Change | |
| 1 | Nissan Qashqai | 116.344 | 134.575 | -14% |
| 2 | Volkswagen Tiguan | 115.512 | 123.577 | -7% |
| 3 | Peugeot 3008 | 107.456 | 111.407 | -4% |
| 4 | Ford Kuga | 70.869 | 86.234 | -18% |
| 5 | Hyundai Tucson | 70.167 | 74.812 | -6% |
| 6 | Toyota C-HR | 68.496 | 69.389 | -1% |
| 7 | Kia Sportage | 59.370 | 67.875 | -13% |
| 8 | Renault Kadjar | 58.156 | 58.698 | -1% |
| 9 | Skoda Karoq | 54.047 | 39.842 | 36% |
| 10 | Opel/Vauxhall Grandland X | 51.008 | 39.748 | 28% |
| 11 | Seat Ateca | 44.414 | 39.340 | 13% |
| 12 | Jeep Compass | 37.015 | 40.475 | -9% |
| 13 | Citroën C5 Aircross | 35.206 | 215 | +++ |
| 14 | Mazda CX-5 | 35.063 | 38.123 | -8% |
| 15 | Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross | 16.027 | 13.849 | 16% |
| 16 | Subaru XV | 5.842 | 7.697 | -24% |
| 17 | Jeep Wrangler | 3.900 | 2.318 | 68% |
| 18 | SsangYong Korando | 1.284 | 1.485 | -14% |
| 19 | DR4 | 365 | 242 | 51% |
| 20 | MG GS | 351 | 517 | -32% |
| 21 | DR5 | 199 | 100 | 99% |
| 22 | Hyundai Nexo | 130 | 2 | New |
| Segment total | 951.221 | 950.825 | 0% |
Midsized SUV segment
The midsized crossover segment has been growing at lightning speed in recent years due to an influx of new players to the class. This growth suddenly stalled in the first quarter of 2019 with a decline in deliveries of 11% to just over 100.000 units. In the second quarter of the year, growth picked up again with a 5% gain to 118.000 sales. That leads to a 5% decline in the first half. The main victim (or culprit) of this downfall is the Renault-Nissan Group as the former #2 of the segment segment (in 2016 and 2017) Nissan X-Trail loses two thirds of its volume as the brand was unprepared for the WLTP standards and had to stop sales of some versions. Its platform sibling Renault Koleos is down by half and will be updated later this year. This leaves the X-Trail in 8th place and the Koleos in 9th, and the duo loses more than 10 percentage points of share of the segment. The top-3 is turned upside down from 2018, with the Toyota RAV4 reclaiming the top spot it last held in 2016 and last year’s leader Peugeot 5008 down into third. That means the Skoda Kodiaq holds on to 2nd place. Big winner in the segment is the Mitsubishi Outlander, thanks to its PHEV version which has a take rate of 75% as plug-in hybrids are due for a comeback. The Volkswagen Tiguan Allspace is down 7% and distances the Honda CR-V, which was up 20% in Q2 to show stable sales in the first half. Still, the CR-V only barely outsold the all new Seat Tarraco, by just 9 sales in the second quarter. That means the Tarraco was outsold by the model from it was derived by just 2.000 sales, which is by far the best relative performance by any Seat model, with the exception of that other 7-seater model, the Alhambra MPV.
The X-Trail is overdue for some technical updates, but we don’t expect them to arrive before next year. Skoda will bring an updated Kodiaq this year and Subaru will renew the Forester, including a hybrid version.
Also check out the compact crossover segment in the USA, where the Toyota RAV4 also takes the lead, from the Nissan Rogue.
| Midsized SUV segment | 2019-H1 | 2018-H1 | Change | |
| 1 | Toyota RAV4 | 47.549 | 38.330 | 24% |
| 2 | Skoda Kodiaq | 40.440 | 39.729 | 2% |
| 3 | Peugeot 5008 | 36.747 | 44.673 | -18% |
| 4 | Mitsubishi Outlander | 25.290 | 17.913 | 41% |
| 5 | Volkswagen Tiguan Allspace | 20.385 | 21.808 | -7% |
| 6 | Honda CR-V | 17.258 | 17.344 | 0% |
| 7 | Seat Tarraco | 11.546 | 0 | New |
| 8 | Nissan X-Trail | 10.019 | 29.024 | -65% |
| 9 | Renault Koleos | 5.791 | 11.538 | -50% |
| 10 | Subaru Forester | 4.607 | 5.897 | -22% |
| 11 | Jeep Cherokee | 1.904 | 1.743 | 9% |
| 12 | Mahindra XUV500 | 124 | 160 | -23% |
| 13 | Fiat Freemont | 0 | 2 | -100% |
| Segment total | 221.660 | 228.161 | -3% |
Click on any model to see its annual sales from 1997-2018 and monthly sales from 2015 to 2018, or use the dropdown menu in the top right of this site.
Car sales statistics are from the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland.
Sources: Manufacturers, ANDC, JATO Dynamics.