2021 Best Selling Small Cars In Europe (All Models Ranked)
In 2021 the midsized car segment is down 6% in an overall market down 2%, as its share of the European car market drops to 6.3%, down from 6.6% in 2020. Luxury brands continue to increase their dominance of this class, improving their share to 68.3% from 62.3% last year and claiming seven of the top-10 positions. In Q4 of 2021, sales of midsized cars were down 31% in a market down 24%, and of the top-10 only two nameplates improved while all others lost a third of their sales or more.
With sales up 64% to a new record for any electric car in Europe, the Tesla Model 3 takes the overall lead of the class, passing the BMW 3-Series which is down 4% on last year. Former class leader Volkswagen Passat is down to third place and loses share with sales down 28%. It’s still well ahead of the rest of the pack, led by the Audi A4 and Mercedes-Benz C-Class, both of which are quickly losing share of the class. A new generation C-Class has landed in showrooms by the end of the year and should help the model recover the position it lost to the A4.
With sales down 19%, the Volvo S60/V60 also loses share but manages to stay ahead of the Skoda Superb wich is down 23%. The BMW 4-Series is helped by the new generation to jump 4 places and now outsells its direct rival Audi A5 again. The A5 makes it four VW Group nameplates in the top-10 while a fifth model is just behind at #11: the Volkswagen Arteon, up 55% thanks to recent updates and the addition of a Shooting Brake version. The Peugeot 508 sees its sales drop 13% on last year and therefore loses share of the segment but holds on to its top-10 place for now.
Its sibling Opel/Vauxhall Insignia gains share with sales down just 4% and passes the Ford Mondeo which is down 36 as it nears the end of its life cycle with no direct replacement in sight. Its mainstream rivals Toyota Camry (-10%) and Renault Talisman (-30%) also lose share. Meanwhile, the all-electric Polestar 2 outsells them all in 12th place and even placed #9 in the final quarter. The Subaru Legacy is up 57% to outsell the Mazda6 which is down 30%. We welcome the all-electric BMW i4 at #22 and the Genesis G70 at #27, just ahead of the Citroën C5 X and Xpeng P5 all-electric sedan.
Here Are The Most Popular Small Cars in Europe for 2021
This data table looks at full year Small Car sales volumes in the United States by model. We compare U.S market Small Car model sales for the full year versus the full year last year.
| Model | Month | Month LY | Change | YTD | YTD LY | YTD Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ∑ = | ∑ = | ∑ = | ∑ = |
| 2021 Rank | Model | 2021 Sales | 2020 Sales | Change | 2021 Marketshare | 2020 Marketshare |
| 1 | Volkswagen Golf | 214069 | 285013 | -25% | 121% | 141% |
| 2 | Skoda Octavia | 151442 | 180902 | -16% | 86% | 89% |
| 3 | Toyota Corolla | 142720 | 137209 | 4% | 81% | 68% |
| 4 | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 118439 | 158955 | -25% | 67% | 78% |
| 5 | Ford Focus | 101066 | 173853 | -42% | 57% | 86% |
| 6 | Seat Leon | 96748 | 111045 | -13% | 55% | 55% |
| 7 | BMW 1-series | 96410 | 107870 | -11% | 54% | 53% |
| 8 | Audi A3 / S3 / RS3 | 95788 | 97492 | -2% | 54% | 48% |
| 9 | Kia Ceed | 80057 | 72017 | 11% | 45% | 36% |
| 10 | Volkswagen ID3 | 72723 | 55172 | 32% | 41% | 27% |
| 11 | Renault Megane | 68692 | 74536 | -8% | 39% | 37% |
| 12 | Citroën C4 | 64982 | 3441 | 1788% | 37% | 2% |
| 13 | Opel/Vauxhall Astra | 58063 | 70550 | -18% | 33% | 35% |
| 14 | Mercedes-Benz CLA | 55956 | 67319 | -17% | 32% | 33% |
| 15 | Peugeot 308 | 53356 | 90324 | -41% | 30% | 45% |
| 16 | Hyundai i30 | 50763 | 50483 | 1% | 29% | 25% |
| 17 | Skoda Scala | 43924 | 53156 | -17% | 25% | 26% |
| 18 | Fiat Tipo | 38673 | 53452 | -28% | 22% | 26% |
| 19 | BMW 2-series Coupe & Convertible | 34852 | 32613 | 7% | 20% | 16% |
| 20 | Nissan Leaf | 33772 | 31177 | 8% | 19% | 15% |
| 21 | Hyundai Ioniq | 23400 | 26254 | -11% | 13% | 13% |
| 22 | Mazda3 | 22554 | 26458 | -15% | 13% | 13% |
| 23 | Honda Civic | 14417 | 17282 | -17% | 8% | 9% |
| 24 | Mini Clubman | 13512 | 16995 | -20% | 8% | 8% |
| 25 | Suzuki Swace | 6327 | 2191 | 189% | 4% | 1% |
| 26 | MG5 | 5424 | 81 | 6596% | 3% | 0% |
| 27 | Cupra Born | 3415 | 0 | New | 2% | 0% |
| 28 | Toyota Prius | 2991 | 4605 | -35% | 2% | 2% |
| 29 | Alfa Romeo Giulietta | 2986 | 10817 | -72% | 2% | 5% |
| 30 | Hyundai Elantra | 1913 | 1003 | 91% | 1% | 0% |
| 31 | DS4 | 1755 | 2 | New | 1% | 0% |
| 32 | Lexus CT | 1237 | 4501 | -73% | 1% | 2% |
| 33 | Citroën C-Elysee | 901 | 2780 | -68% | 1% | 1% |
| 34 | BMW i4 | 762 | 0 | New | 0,1% | 0,0% |
| 35 | Peugeot 301 | 574 | 600 | -4% | 0% | 0% |
| 36 | Lexus IS | 551 | 1.855 | -70% | 0,1% | 0,2% |
| 37 | Subaru Impreza | 529 | 514 | 3% | 0% | 0% |
| 38 | Kia Optima | 430 | 6.086 | -93% | 0,1% | 0,8% |
| 39 | Subaru Levorg | 417 | 825 | -49% | 0,1% | 0,1% |
| 40 | Tesla Model 3 | 140.868 | 85.979 | 64% | 19,0% | 10,9% |
| 41 | Opel Ampera-e | 115 | 2775 | -96% | 0% | 1% |
| 42 | BMW 3-series | 113.209 | 118.369 | -4% | 15,2% | 15,0% |
| 43 | Lexus RC | 96 | 710 | -86% | 0,0% | 0,1% |
| 44 | Genesis G70 | 96 | 0 | New | 0,0% | 0,0% |
| 45 | Volkswagen Passat | 82.488 | 115.363 | -28% | 11,1% | 14,6% |
| 46 | Citroën C5 X | 63 | 0 | New | 0,0% | 0,0% |
| 47 | Audi A4 / S4 / RS4 | 59.251 | 77.515 | -24% | 8,0% | 9,8% |
| 48 | Mercedes-Benz C-Class | 56.927 | 81.909 | -30% | 7,7% | 10,4% |
| 49 | Volvo S60/V60 | 47.054 | 58.003 | -19% | 6,3% | 7,4% |
| 50 | Skoda Superb | 46.285 | 59.925 | -23% | 6,2% | 7,6% |
| 51 | Renault Megane-e | 45 | 0 | New | 0% | 0% |
| 52 | Volvo V40 | 42 | 1860 | -98% | 0% | 1% |
| 53 | BMW 4-series | 33.083 | 18.139 | 82% | 4,5% | 2,3% |
| 54 | Audi A5 / S5 / RS5 | 26.1 | 28.525 | -9% | 3,5% | 3,6% |
| 55 | Peugeot 508 | 25.202 | 29.011 | -13% | 3,4% | 3,7% |
| 56 | Volkswagen Arteon | 20.994 | 13.582 | 55% | 2,8% | 1,7% |
| 57 | Polestar 2 | 20.949 | 8.746 | 140% | 2,8% | 1,1% |
| 58 | Opel/Vauxhall Insignia | 20.384 | 21.133 | -4% | 2,7% | 2,7% |
| 59 | Ford Mondeo | 13.481 | 21.222 | -36% | 1,8% | 2,7% |
| 60 | Toyota Camry | 8.222 | 9.119 | -10% | 1,1% | 1,2% |
| 61 | Xpeng P5 | 8 | 0 | New | 0,0% | 0,0% |
| 62 | Alfa Romeo Giulia | 6.297 | 7.436 | -15% | 0,8% | 0,9% |
| 63 | Subaru Legacy / Outback | 6.045 | 3.844 | 57% | 0,8% | 0,5% |
| 64 | Renault Talisman | 5.608 | 8.025 | -30% | 0,8% | 1,0% |
| 65 | Mazda6 | 4.89 | 6.95 | -30% | 0,7% | 0,9% |
| 66 | Jaguar XE | 2.039 | 3.78 | -46% | 0,3% | 0,5% |
| 67 | Kia Stinger | 1.142 | 1.387 | -18% | 0,2% | 0,2% |
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.
