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.