Sales of compact crossovers in the US are up 37% in the first half of 2021, beating the overall market, up 29%. That means the largest segment in the US grows its share of the US passenger car market to 23.6%, up from 22.2% in the first half of 2020 and stable on all of 2020, at a volume of nearly 1,970,000 deliveries, up more than half a million.
The Toyota RAV4 stays on top of the ranking but sees its share of the segment drop a percentage point to 11.2%. The RAV4 was outsold in Q2 by the Honda CR-V by over 13,500 deliveries and sees its year-to-date lead shrunk to 8,000 units. The Nissan Rogue is in a comfortable third place as the best performing nameplate in the top-15 at +70%. The Chevrolet Equinox is the worst performer in the top-15 and the only in the red at -4%. In Q2 the Subaru Forester was outsold by the Mazda CX-5, while the Subaru Outback and Ford Escape were outsold by the Hyundai Tucson thanks to that model’s new generation. The Jeep Cherokee is knocked out of the top-10 and is now under threat from the Volkswagen Tiguan and newcomer Ford Bronco Sport. The Kia Sportage keeps its share of the segment almost stable, but the Chevrolet Blazer has 5% fewer sales than last year while the Jeep Compass is down 29% and the GMC Terrain is down 15%. On the other hand, the Buick Envision is up 76% thanks to the new generation. We welcome the Ford Mustang Mach E at #29, outselling the Dodge Journey, Mitsubishi Outlander and its more direct rival Volkswagen ID.4.
The luxury part of the segment outperforms the mainstream compact crossovers with sales up 82%. Luxury crossovers now make up 18.2% of the segment so far in 2021, up from 13.7% in the first half of 2020 and up from 14.1% in all of 2020. Most of this gain can be attributed to the thunderous arrival of the new luxury leader Tesla Model Y. It sells more than double the volume of the next best luxury crossover BMW X3 and lands in the overall top-10 with 3.9% share of the class. The X3 is up 81% thanks to a very strong second quarter in which it leapfrogs the Mercedes-Benz GLC, up 34% on last year. The GLC also drops behind the Lexus NX, up 41% and was outsold in Q2 by the Acura RDX as well. The Volvo XC60 leapfrogs the Cadillac XT5 while the Mercedes-Benz GLB and Infiniti QX50 move ahead of the Lincoln Corsair. The Range Rover Velar is under threat from the Alfa Romeo Stelvio and Jaguar F-Pace. In its first quarter, the Infiniti QX55 lands at #40.
US compact crossover sales 2021 – first half
| Compact SUV segment | 2021-H1 | 2020-H1 | Change | 2021 Share | 2020 Share | |
| 1 | Toyota RAV4 | 221.195 | 183.360 | 21% | 11,2% | 12,8% |
| 2 | Honda CR-V | 213.199 | 138.898 | 53% | 10,8% | 9,7% |
| 3 | Nissan Rogue | 182.289 | 106.965 | 70% | 9,3% | 7,4% |
| 4 | Chevrolet Equinox | 118.666 | 124.251 | -4% | 6,0% | 8,6% |
| 5 | Subaru Forester | 95.965 | 85.860 | 12% | 4,9% | 6,0% |
| 6 | Mazda CX-5 | 92.621 | 65.072 | 42% | 4,7% | 4,5% |
| 7 | Subaru Outback | 87.619 | 62.305 | 41% | 4,5% | 4,3% |
| 8 | Ford Escape | 85.492 | 84.797 | 1% | 4,3% | 5,9% |
| 9 | Hyundai Tucson | 83.517 | 57.941 | 44% | 4,2% | 4,0% |
| 10 | Tesla Model Y | 76.429 | 0 | New | 3,9% | 0,0% |
| 11 | Jeep Cherokee | 67.158 | 56.938 | 18% | 3,4% | 4,0% |
| 12 | Volkswagen Tiguan L | 65.153 | 47.494 | 37% | 3,3% | 3,3% |
| 13 | Ford Bronco Sport | 60.514 | 0 | New | 3,1% | 0,0% |
| 14 | Kia Sportage | 53.374 | 39.618 | 35% | 2,7% | 2,8% |
| 15 | Chevrolet Blazer | 39.855 | 41.870 | -5% | 2,0% | 2,9% |
| 16 | BMW X3 | 36.273 | 20.074 | 81% | 1,8% | 1,4% |
| 17 | Jeep Compass | 34.154 | 48.221 | -29% | 1,7% | 3,4% |
| 18 | Audi Q5 | 33.566 | 18.031 | 86% | 1,7% | 1,3% |
| 19 | GMC Terrain | 33.533 | 39.231 | -15% | 1,7% | 2,7% |
| 20 | Lexus NX | 32.066 | 22.725 | 41% | 1,6% | 1,6% |
| 21 | Mercedes-Benz GLC | 30.149 | 22.559 | 34% | 1,5% | 1,6% |
| 22 | Acura RDX | 27.690 | 22.750 | 22% | 1,4% | 1,6% |
| 23 | Buick Envision | 26.002 | 14.813 | 76% | 1,3% | 1,0% |
| 24 | Volvo XC60 | 20.592 | 12.212 | 69% | 1,0% | 0,8% |
| 25 | Cadillac XT5 | 19.346 | 14.806 | 31% | 1,0% | 1,0% |
| 26 | Mercedes-Benz GLB | 17.441 | 11.519 | 51% | 0,9% | 0,8% |
| 27 | Infiniti QX50 | 13.749 | 9.069 | 52% | 0,7% | 0,6% |
| 28 | Lincoln Corsair | 13.507 | 11.133 | 21% | 0,7% | 0,8% |
| 29 | Ford Mustang Mach E | 12.975 | 0 | New | 0,7% | 0,0% |
| 30 | Dodge Journey | 12.765 | 20.586 | -38% | 0,6% | 1,4% |
| 31 | Porsche Macan | 11.489 | 7.741 | 48% | 0,6% | 0,5% |
| 32 | Mitsubishi Outlander | 11.314 | 16.176 | -30% | 0,6% | 1,1% |
| 33 | Volkswagen ID.4 | 6.230 | 0 | New | 0,3% | 0,0% |
| 34 | Range Rover Velar | 5.989 | 6.117 | -2% | 0,3% | 0,4% |
| 35 | Alfa Romeo Stelvio | 5.313 | 3.915 | 36% | 0,3% | 0,3% |
| 36 | Jaguar F-Pace | 5.112 | 5.892 | -13% | 0,3% | 0,4% |
| 37 | Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross | 4.358 | 6.346 | -31% | 0,2% | 0,4% |
| 38 | BMW X4 | 4.351 | 3.161 | 38% | 0,2% | 0,2% |
| 39 | Land Rover Discovery Sport | 3.578 | 3.859 | -7% | 0,2% | 0,3% |
| 40 | Infiniti QX55 | 1.242 | 0 | New | 0,1% | 0,0% |
| 41 | Jaguar I-Pace | 609 | 1.046 | -42% | 0,0% | 0,1% |
| 42 | Hyundai Nexo | 134 | 76 | 76% | 0,0% | 0,0% |
| 43 | Jeep Patriot | 4 | 1 | 300% | 0,0% | 0,0% |
| 44 | Volkswagen Tiguan | 3 | 5 | -40% | 0,0% | 0,0% |
| 45 | Toyota FJ Cruiser | 1 | 0 | – | 0,0% | 0,0% |
| 46 | Lincoln MKT | 0 | 129 | -100% | 0,0% | 0,0% |
| Segment total | 1.966.581 | 1.437.562 | 37% |
Source: Manufacturers.