Sales of compact cars in Europe were down 12% in 2021, in an overall market down 2%. With just over 1.77 million deliveries, the segment now makes up just 15.1% of the European car market, down from 17% in 2020. This is the first year that compact cars are outsold by small crossovers and compact crossovers, dropping the compact class down from second to fourth place among segments.
The Volkswagen Golf maintains is position as Europe’s best seller and thus logically its top spot above all compact cars as well, despite losing share with sales down by a quarter to the lowest annual sales in at least 25 years. The Golf lost 60% of its sales in Q4. Its nearest rivals are closing in but the gap remains significant. The Golf’s sibling Skoda Octavia is down 16% to its lowest annual sales since 2003 while the Toyota Corolla is up 4% to the highest annual sales for the nameplate since 2006, as it’s the only gainer in the top-8. Last year’s #3 Ford Focus is the worst performer in the top-25 with sales down 42% to the lowest annual sales since its launch. The Focus is down into 5th place overall as the brand is heavily impacted by the shortage of microchips. The Golf’s other sibling Seat Leon is down 13% while the Volkswagen ID.3 improves 32% to enter the top-10 of the class, just behind the Kia Ceed which is up 11%. That knocks the Renault Megane out of the top-10, just ahead of the new Citroën C4 and the Opel/Vauxhall Astra. Both the Megane and Astra set new lows in annual sales for at least 25 years. The Astra will be replaced in 2022 by a new generation, while Renault is set to launch a small electric crossover named Megane-e.
The Astra’s sibling Peugeot 308 is also due for a redesign, and the first handful of those have already been delivered in December, but as a result sales of the outgoing version were down by two thirds in the final quarter. The 308 is down to 15th place with a loss of 41%. The Hyundai i30 is stable on last year, allowing it to leapfrog the Skoda Scala and Fiat Tipo, while the Nissan Leaf enjoys its second-best year ever with sales up 8% on 2020. The Hyundai Ionig passes the Mazda3 while the Honda Civic is down 17% in 23rd place. The Suzuki Swace, a clone of the Toyota Corolla wagon hybrid, is in 25h place just ahead of the MG5, a compact electric station wagon from China and the Cupra Born, a clone of the ID.3 electric hatchback.
The luxury part of the segment accounts for 23.8% of total compact car sales in Europe, down 0.8 percentage points on 2020. The Mercedes-Benz A-Class loses share with sales down by a quarter and holds on to the #4 spot. The BMW 1-Series and Audi A3 gain share of the class despite struggling in the fourth quarter when each lost about half of its sales. The Mercedes-Benz CLA also trails the segment while the BMW 2-Series Coupe & Convertible is up 7% thanks to the addition of the Gran Coupe and the new generation Coupe. The Mini Clubman has the slowest year since its launch, down 20% on 2020. We welcome the DS4 back at #30 overall, already outselling the Lexus CT and in Q4 also the discontinued Alfa Romeo Guilietta.
| Compact segment | 2021 | 2020 | Change | 2021 share | 2020 share | 2021-Q4 | 2020-Q4 | Change | |
| 1 | Volkswagen Golf | 214.069 | 285.013 | -25% | 12,1% | 14,1% | 32.635 | 81.890 | -60% |
| 2 | Skoda Octavia | 151.442 | 180.902 | -16% | 8,6% | 8,9% | 28.421 | 50.203 | -43% |
| 3 | Toyota Corolla | 142.720 | 137.209 | 4% | 8,1% | 6,8% | 31.350 | 34.994 | -10% |
| 4 | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 118.439 | 158.955 | -25% | 6,7% | 7,8% | 26.074 | 43.558 | -40% |
| 5 | Ford Focus | 101.066 | 173.853 | -42% | 5,7% | 8,6% | 29.727 | 44.042 | -33% |
| 6 | Seat Leon | 96.748 | 111.045 | -13% | 5,5% | 5,5% | 17.013 | 30.944 | -45% |
| 7 | BMW 1-series | 96.410 | 107.870 | -11% | 5,4% | 5,3% | 16.340 | 32.613 | -50% |
| 8 | Audi A3 / S3 / RS3 | 95.788 | 97.492 | -2% | 5,4% | 4,8% | 16.799 | 32.503 | -48% |
| 9 | Kia Ceed | 80.057 | 72.017 | 11% | 4,5% | 3,6% | 18.359 | 19.250 | -5% |
| 10 | Volkswagen ID.3 | 72.723 | 55.172 | 32% | 4,1% | 2,7% | 19.267 | 45.924 | -58% |
| 11 | Renault Megane | 68.692 | 74.536 | -8% | 3,9% | 3,7% | 14.977 | 20.893 | -28% |
| 12 | Citroën C4 | 64.982 | 3.441 | 1788% | 3,7% | 0,2% | 17.438 | 3.133 | 457% |
| 13 | Opel/Vauxhall Astra | 58.063 | 70.550 | -18% | 3,3% | 3,5% | 11.396 | 20.147 | -43% |
| 14 | Mercedes-Benz CLA | 55.956 | 67.319 | -17% | 3,2% | 3,3% | 12.701 | 17.737 | -28% |
| 15 | Peugeot 308 | 53.356 | 90.324 | -41% | 3,0% | 4,5% | 8.203 | 24.561 | -67% |
| 16 | Hyundai i30 | 50.763 | 50.483 | 1% | 2,9% | 2,5% | 11.244 | 12.760 | -12% |
| 17 | Skoda Scala | 43.924 | 53.156 | -17% | 2,5% | 2,6% | 9.346 | 13.536 | -31% |
| 18 | Fiat Tipo | 38.673 | 53.452 | -28% | 2,2% | 2,6% | 7.025 | 14.696 | -52% |
| 19 | BMW 2-series Coupe & Convertible | 34.852 | 32.613 | 7% | 2,0% | 1,6% | 5.861 | 10.187 | -42% |
| 20 | Nissan Leaf | 33.772 | 31.177 | 8% | 1,9% | 1,5% | 11.048 | 10.551 | 5% |
| 21 | Hyundai Ioniq | 23.400 | 26.254 | -11% | 1,3% | 1,3% | 5.387 | 6.123 | -12% |
| 22 | Mazda3 | 22.554 | 26.458 | -15% | 1,3% | 1,3% | 4.380 | 6.405 | -32% |
| 23 | Honda Civic | 14.417 | 17.282 | -17% | 0,8% | 0,9% | 2.752 | 3.382 | -19% |
| 24 | Mini Clubman | 13.512 | 16.995 | -20% | 0,8% | 0,8% | 3.084 | 4.367 | -29% |
| 25 | Suzuki Swace | 6.327 | 2.191 | 189% | 0,4% | 0,1% | 3.055 | 2.191 | 39% |
| 26 | MG5 | 5.424 | 81 | 6596% | 0,3% | 0,0% | 1.722 | 80 | 2053% |
| 27 | Cupra Born | 3.415 | 0 | New | 0,2% | 0,0% | 3.319 | 0 | New |
| 28 | Toyota Prius | 2.991 | 4.605 | -35% | 0,2% | 0,2% | 563 | 1.020 | -45% |
| 29 | Alfa Romeo Giulietta | 2.986 | 10.817 | -72% | 0,2% | 0,5% | 134 | 3.492 | -96% |
| 30 | Hyundai Elantra | 1.913 | 1.003 | 91% | 0,1% | 0,0% | 822 | 52 | 1481% |
| 31 | DS4 | 1.755 | 2 | New | 0,1% | 0,0% | 1.643 | 1 | New |
| 32 | Lexus CT | 1.237 | 4.501 | -73% | 0,1% | 0,2% | 10 | 1.307 | -99% |
| 33 | Citroën C-Elysee | 901 | 2.780 | -68% | 0,1% | 0,1% | 103 | 677 | -85% |
| 34 | Peugeot 301 | 574 | 600 | -4% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 59 | 125 | -53% |
| 35 | Subaru Impreza | 529 | 514 | 3% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 132 | 152 | -13% |
| 36 | Opel Ampera-e | 115 | 2.775 | -96% | 0,0% | 0,1% | 1 | 59 | -98% |
| 37 | Renault Megane-e | 45 | 0 | New | 0,0% | 0,0% | 45 | 0 | New |
| 38 | Volvo V40 | 42 | 1.860 | -98% | 0,0% | 0,1% | 18 | 36 | -50% |
| Segment total | 1.774.634 | 2.026.503 | -12% | 372.453 | 593.591 | -37% |
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.