Mitsubishi Mirage takes the sales crown as Mini Cooper stumbles; Fiat 500 and Smart ForTwo wither away
Sales in the US Minicar segment fell by 10.3% to 76,442 in 2018, making it the fourth straight year of decline. Overall, total segment sales have fallen by over 40% since their peak in 2014, a trend that may well continue in the near future with no new models on the horizon.
Highlights:
- Mitsubishi Mirage and Chevrolet Spark were the only models to see their sales rise, with the Mitsubishi jumping ahead of the Chevy to become the 2018 segment leader, thanks to a slightly higher sales growth than that recorded by its rival
- However, the big news was that both models jumped ahead of the Mini Cooper, whose sales fell by 11% compared to 2017, relegating the once un-disputed segment champion to 3rd place
- But if Mini’s fall from the top spot is bad, the sales decline of the Fiat 500 and Smart ForTwo is something else entirely – not only did both models see their sales more than halve in the past year, they are now barely more than a tenth (Fiat) and a twentieth (Smart) of what they were at the peak of the models’ popularity!
Note: clicking on the model name opens the sales data page for that model; clicking year in the legend turns the display for that year on/off