The small crossover segment is one of only two segments in the US to grow in 2020, together with large sports car. Just over 1,076,000 small crossovers were sold, up 6% on 2019. That’s a new record for the class, as every year since the segment was created in 2010 by the Nissan Juke and Mini Countryman. It now makes up 7.4% of the US car market, up from 5.9% in 2019, and new entrants continue to be launched so the class is set to continue to draw customers away from small and compact cars.
The Subaru Crosstrek has a strong Q4 with sales up 31% to jump back ahead of the Chevrolet Trax and stay on top of the segment ranking, despite both losing 9% of their sales for the full year. They are the only models to top 100,000 sales. Their closest rival Honda H-RV is down 15% and was outsold by the Hyundai Kona in the fourth quarter. The Kona is up 4% and passes the Buick Encore and Jeep Renegade in the ranking to jump into fourth place. The Renegade is down 18% in fifth place, followed by the Ford EcoSport, down 6% at #6 and the Nissan Kicks, up 1% at #7, but the EcoSport was down into 10th place in Q4. Best newcomer in the class is the Kia Seltos, just ahead of the Buick Encore GX and its sister model Chevrolet Trailblazer. The latter two are slighly larger than the Encore and Trax and don’t replace those models. However, the Buick Encore struggles this year with sales down 59%. The Toyota C-HR is down 12% while the Mazda CX-30 lands in 12th place. Further below, the segment’s smallest model Hyundai Venue is also one of its slowest sellers, ahead of the Kia Niro, Mazda CX-3, which is cannibalized by the slightly larger CX-30, and Fiat 500X.
The luxury part of the segment makes up 17.1% of total small crossover sales in the US in 2020, up from 16.4% in 2019. The Mercedes-Benz GLB was in the top spot after the first three quarters, but drops to fourth place for the full year. The Audi Q3 grabs first place with sales up 84% thanks to the new generation, ahead of the new generation Mercedes-Benz GLA, up 15% and the Volvo XC40, up 35%. Last year’s leader Cadillac XT4 is down 30% into fifth place. The Lexus UX is stable at +1% to move past the BMW X1, down 19%. The Range Rover Evoque loses 9% for the year (-29% in Q4), while the Mini Countryman and BMW X2 both lose more than a third of their 2019 sales. The Jaguar E-Pace remains the slowest seller of the class.
US small crossover sales 2020
| Small SUV segment | 2020 | 2019 | Change | Share | Share | |
| 1 | Subaru Crosstrek | 119.716 | 131.152 | -9% | 11,1% | 12,9% |
| 2 | Chevrolet Trax | 106.299 | 116.816 | -9% | 9,9% | 11,5% |
| 3 | Honda HR-V | 84.027 | 99.104 | -15% | 7,8% | 9,7% |
| 4 | Hyundai Kona | 76.253 | 73.326 | 4% | 7,1% | 7,2% |
| 5 | Jeep Renegade | 62.847 | 76.885 | -18% | 5,8% | 7,6% |
| 6 | Ford EcoSport | 60.545 | 64.708 | -6% | 5,6% | 6,4% |
| 7 | Nissan Kicks | 58.858 | 58.193 | 1% | 5,5% | 5,7% |
| 8 | Kia Seltos | 46.280 | 0 | New | 4,3% | 0,0% |
| 9 | Buick Ecore GX | 44.841 | 0 | New | 4,2% | 0,0% |
| 10 | Toyota C-HR | 42.936 | 48.930 | -12% | 4,0% | 4,8% |
| 11 | Buick Encore | 41.752 | 102.402 | -59% | 3,9% | 10,1% |
| 12 | Mazda CX-30 | 38.064 | 899 | 4134% | 3,5% | 0,1% |
| 13 | Chevrolet TrailBlazer | 34.292 | 0 | New | 3,2% | 0,0% |
| 14 | Mitsubishi Outlander Sport | 28.836 | 33.644 | -14% | 2,7% | 3,3% |
| 15 | Audi Q3 | 27.251 | 14.822 | 84% | 2,5% | 1,5% |
| 16 | Mercedes-Benz GLA | 25.348 | 22.136 | 15% | 2,4% | 2,2% |
| 17 | Volvo XC40 | 23.778 | 17.654 | 35% | 2,2% | 1,7% |
| 18 | Mercedes-Benz GLB | 23.183 | 1.173 | 1876% | 2,2% | 0,1% |
| 19 | Cadillac XT4 | 22.473 | 31.987 | -30% | 2,1% | 3,1% |
| 20 | Hyundai Venue | 19.125 | 1.077 | 1676% | 1,8% | 0,1% |
| 21 | Kia Niro | 17.434 | 24.467 | -29% | 1,6% | 2,4% |
| 22 | Lexus UX | 16.962 | 16.725 | 1% | 1,6% | 1,6% |
| 23 | BMW X1 | 14.405 | 17.815 | -19% | 1,3% | 1,8% |
| 24 | Range Rover Evoque | 10.511 | 11.529 | -9% | 1,0% | 1,1% |
| 25 | Mini Countryman | 9.394 | 13.969 | -33% | 0,9% | 1,4% |
| 26 | Mazda CX-3 | 8.335 | 16.229 | -49% | 0,8% | 1,6% |
| 27 | BMW X2 | 7.387 | 11.293 | -35% | 0,7% | 1,1% |
| 28 | Jaguar E-Pace | 3.696 | 4.782 | -23% | 0,3% | 0,5% |
| 29 | Fiat 500X | 1.443 | 2.518 | -43% | 0,1% | 0,2% |
| 30 | Infiniti QX30 | 148 | 3.229 | -95% | 0,0% | 0,3% |
| Segment total | 1.076.419 | 1.017.464 | 6% |
Source: Manufacturers.