European sales of minicars were down 48% in the first half of 2020, compared to a total market loss of 38%, which means this segment now makes up 6.7% of the total European car market at just over 345,000 sales, down from 8.1% in the first half of 2019 and 7.7% in all of 2019. And with margins on minicars under pressure due to increased costs to comply with stricter safety and emissions standards, manufacturers are scaling back investments in to minicars or switching strategies, either to go EV-only in this segment or to go premium, putting the pricing of minicar in line with those of subcompact cars.
The Fiat Panda continues to lead the segment ahead of its sibling Fiat 500, even though the 500 was the segment best seller in the second quarter. The Italian duo actually manages to expand its share of the class from 30.5% in H1 of 2019 to 33.8%. The Toyota Aygo holds on to its podium position, but the Renault Twingo has closed the gap thanks to a record month of June when it was actually the best selling minicar in Europe. The Volkswagen Up! holds its share stable but is stuck in a distant 5th place and it is the biggest loser of the top-10. The Korean duo Kia Picanto and Hyundai i10 are down by 45% each but the PSA twins Peugeot 108 and Citroën C1 both beat the market despite losing around a third of their sales of last year. The only nameplate in the top-15 to lose by less than double digits is the Mitsubishi Space Star, allowing it to enter the top-10. It closes in on the C1 and surpasses the Suzuki Ignis (-31%), Skoda Citigo (-76%) and Smart Fortwo (-86%), the latter two of which have ended sales of gasoline-powered versions and are now EV-only. The same goes for the Seat Mii (-67%) and Smart Forfour (-91%), closing out the top-15. Best performer in relative terms is the Citroën C-Zero EV with sales almost doubling as final inventories are cleared and it sells a multiple of its clones Peugeot iOn and Mitsubishi i-MiEV. Production of the Opel/Vauxhall Adam, Opel Karl/Vauxhall Viva and Suzuki Celerio has already ended.
| Minicar segment | 2020-H1 | 2019-H1 | Change | 2020 share | 2019 share | 2020-Q2 | |
| 1 | Fiat Panda | 59.662 | 105.134 | -43% | 17,3% | 15,7% | 22.253 |
| 2 | Fiat 500 | 57.172 | 99.349 | -42% | 16,5% | 14,8% | 23.236 |
| 3 | Toyota Aygo | 36.370 | 50.861 | -28% | 10,5% | 7,6% | 13.266 |
| 4 | Renault Twingo | 34.049 | 45.104 | -25% | 9,8% | 6,7% | 18.254 |
| 5 | Volkswagen Up! | 23.426 | 45.101 | -48% | 6,8% | 6,7% | 9.046 |
| 6 | Kia Picanto | 22.520 | 40.697 | -45% | 6,5% | 6,1% | 8.259 |
| 7 | Hyundai i10 | 21.279 | 38.501 | -45% | 6,2% | 5,7% | 7.383 |
| 8 | Peugeot 108 | 20.688 | 30.566 | -32% | 6,0% | 4,6% | 8.710 |
| 9 | Citroën C1 | 19.259 | 28.768 | -33% | 5,6% | 4,3% | 7.974 |
| 10 | Mitsubishi Space Star / Mirage | 19.058 | 20.597 | -7% | 5,5% | 3,1% | 8.889 |
| 11 | Suzuki Ignis | 14.554 | 21.134 | -31% | 4,2% | 3,2% | 6.762 |
| 12 | Skoda Citigo | 5.057 | 21.491 | -76% | 1,5% | 3,2% | 1.690 |
| 13 | Smart Fortwo | 4.614 | 32.869 | -86% | 1,3% | 4,9% | 2.163 |
| 14 | Seat Mii | 2.693 | 8.124 | -67% | 0,8% | 1,2% | 902 |
| 15 | Smart Forfour | 1.810 | 19.577 | -91% | 0,5% | 2,9% | 739 |
| 16 | Citroën C-Zero | 1.709 | 632 | 170% | 0,5% | 0,1% | 926 |
| 17 | Suzuki Celerio | 1.507 | 7.359 | -80% | 0,4% | 1,1% | 493 |
| 18 | Peugeot iOn | 192 | 586 | -67% | 0,1% | 0,1% | 43 |
| 19 | Citroën E-Mehari | 66 | 97 | -32% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 16 |
| 20 | Mitsubishi i-MiEV | 25 | 108 | -77% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 12 |
| 21 | Opel/Vauxhall Adam | 3 | 24.226 | -100% | 0% | 3,6% | 0 |
| 22 | Mitsubishi Attrage | 1 | 39 | -97% | 0% | 0,0% | 1 |
| 23 | Opel Karl / Vauxhall Viva | 0 | 29.940 | -100% | 0% | 4,5% | 0 |
| Segment total | 345.714 | 670.860 | -48% |
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.