Sales of compact crossovers in Europe are down 26% in the first three quarters of 2020 which narrowly beats the overall market. As a result, compact crossovers now make up 14.3% of the total European car market, up from 13.8% in the first nine months of 2019 but slightly down from their share of 15% in all of 2019. It’s still Europe’s fourth largest class.
The top-3 all lose market share with sales down 32% or more. The Volkswagen Tiguan extends the lead it took in 2019 but lost again to the Nissan Qashqai in Q1 of this year, as the latter is overdue for a redesign. After struggling in Q2, the Qashqai was back in 2nd place in Q3, followed by the Toyota C-HR which is the best performing mainstream model in the top-10. That leaves the #2 of the second quarter, the Peugeot 3008, in fourth place, although it holds on to its YTD podium position by a safe margin. And an extensive facelift is coming up for the 3008. The Hyundai Tucson also loses share quickly as a new generation is arriving soon, but it still handily outsells the Skoda Karoq and its sister model Kia Sportage. The Seat Ateca and Opel/Vauxhall Grandland both slightly improve their share, but the Renault Kadjar implodes. At least the latter leapfrogs the Citroën C5 Aircross in the YTD ranking. The Jeep Compass and Mazda CX-5 lose share, but the Japanese brand benefits from the arrival of the CX-30 in 15th place and the all-electric MX-30 in 29th place. The MX-30 is a bit of a weirdo, both in terms of design and its limited battery capacity, but sales are picking up nicely. It will be interesting to see how high it can go.
The luxury part of the segment accounts for 27.9% of compact crossover sales, up significantly from 23.3% in the same period of 2019 and 22% for the full year 2019. The Volvo XC40 has overtaken the Audi Q3 to claim the lead of the luxury subsegment, helped by the PHEV version. The upcoming EV versions should boost the XC40 even further, perhaps even higher than its current overall #5 spot. The Q3 still also gains share with a 5% drop in deliveries, and it stays ahead of the BMW X1. The Mercedes-Benz GLA is in recovery mode, after struggling in the first half of the year due to the model changeover. Now that the new generation has been well and truly launched, it’s picking up steam. In fact, the GLA already outsold the X1 in September by over 2,000 sales and it was just 700 sales behind the Q3 that month. The Range Rover Evoque also gains share, while the BMW X2 is falling behind. The Mercedes-Benz GLB moves ahead of the DS7 Crossback, while the Lexus UX leapfrogs the Jaguar E-Pace which now carries the red lantern.
| Compact SUV segment | 2020 Q1-Q3 | 2019 Q1-Q3 | Change | 2020 share | 2020-Q3 | |
| 1 | Volkswagen Tiguan (est.) | 114.572 | 169.258 | -32% | 9,3% | 42.761 |
| 2 | Nissan Qashqai | 100.144 | 167.006 | -40% | 8,1% | 38.715 |
| 3 | Peugeot 3008 | 91.172 | 148.194 | -38% | 7,4% | 32.378 |
| 4 | Toyota C-HR | 77.441 | 94.559 | -18% | 6,3% | 33.323 |
| 5 | Volvo XC40 | 72.364 | 58.110 | 25% | 5,9% | 32.007 |
| 6 | Hyundai Tucson | 67.487 | 104.867 | -36% | 5,5% | 27.862 |
| 7 | Audi Q3 | 66.138 | 69.873 | -5% | 5,4% | 25.440 |
| 8 | BMW X1 | 60.715 | 79.669 | -24% | 4,9% | 25.058 |
| 9 | Skoda Karoq | 59.826 | 79.865 | -25% | 4,8% | 22.918 |
| 10 | Kia Sportage | 55.275 | 86.300 | -36% | 4,5% | 22.030 |
| 11 | Seat Ateca | 52.590 | 69.911 | -25% | 4,3% | 19.943 |
| 12 | Opel/Vauxhall Grandland X | 52.228 | 69.807 | -25% | 4,2% | 18.332 |
| 13 | Renault Kadjar | 49.224 | 82.421 | -40% | 4,0% | 19.676 |
| 14 | Citroën C5 Aircross | 49.113 | 55.203 | -11% | 4,0% | 19.216 |
| 15 | Mazda CX-30 | 36.493 | 2.143 | 1603% | 3,0% | 14.387 |
| 16 | Mercedes-Benz GLA | 33.902 | 55.074 | -38% | 2,7% | 20.014 |
| 17 | Jeep Compass | 31.535 | 51.814 | -39% | 2,6% | 14.778 |
| 18 | Range Rover Evoque | 28.178 | 34.603 | -19% | 2,3% | 9.932 |
| 19 | Mazda CX-5 | 23.581 | 49.928 | -53% | 1,9% | 10.210 |
| 20 | BMW X2 | 23.367 | 33.042 | -29% | 1,9% | 9.965 |
| 21 | Mercedes-Benz GLB | 18.930 | 0 | New | 1,5% | 8.624 |
| 22 | DS7 Crossback | 16.691 | 21.129 | -21% | 1,4% | 5.019 |
| 23 | Lexus UX | 12.373 | 12.134 | 2% | 1,0% | 4.936 |
| 24 | Jaguar E-Pace | 11.738 | 21.834 | -46% | 1,0% | 4.061 |
| 25 | Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross | 11.052 | 21.680 | -49% | 0,9% | 3.785 |
| 26 | Subaru XV | 5.488 | 7.933 | -31% | 0,4% | 2.088 |
| 27 | Jeep Wrangler | 5.467 | 5.568 | -2% | 0,4% | 2.545 |
| 28 | SsangYong Korando | 3.632 | 1.895 | 92% | 0,3% | 1.551 |
| 29 | Mazda MX-30 | 1.777 | 0 | New | 0,1% | 1.747 |
| 30 | DR5 | 604 | 598 | 1% | 0,0% | 433 |
| 31 | DR6 | 488 | 703 | -31% | 0,0% | 214 |
| 32 | Infiniti QX30 | 26 | 629 | -96% | 0,0% | 1 |
| 33 | MG GS | 0 | 366 | -100% | 0,0% | 0 |
| Segment total | 1.233.611 | 1.656.116 | -26% |
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.