Fastest growing segment in the US, now larger than premium compact car segment
The Premium Compact SUV segment continued its trend of double-digit sales increases in 2017, growing by 17.0% in the third quarter. This makes it the only Premium SUV segment to maintain double-digit growth in all quarters of 2017 so far, although at 84,544 units sold it remains the smallest of the three by far. With sales of the new generation Mini Countryman picking up, and the arrival of the BMW X2, Jaguar E-Pace and Volvo XC40 by the end of the year, the segment is bound to continue on this path of growth. Next year, Audi could bring the Q2 to the States as well, although this has not yet been officially confirmed, nor has Acura hinted at the possibility that the China-made CDX is coming to the US. If so, it won’t be for at least another year.
Highlights for Q3 2017
- After recording double-digit growth in the first two quarters of the year, the new BMW X1 saw its sales growth come to a halt in the third quarter; still, it remains the clear segment leader, and BMW is likely to receive an overall sales boost once the new X2 goes on sale in the coming months
- The year has gone quite differently for the second-placed Mercedes-Benz GLA – after seeing its sales fall by double-digits in the first two quarters, it saw its sales rise by 45% in Q3’17, all but erasing its losses and putting it in a solid second spot, ahead of the aging Audi Q3
- Things have clearly not gone Infiniti’s way with the QX30 – after an extremely strong start to the year, when it almost outsold the X1, it has since been unable to sell more than 3,000 units in the subsequent quarters, less than half of what it managed in Q1’17 – as a result it slid from second position after the first quarter to fourth now (on YTD sales)
- The all-new Mini Countryman had a solid if unspectacular Q3’17, with sales up 12%, but it still allowed it to overtake the facelifted Range Rover Evoque, the only model to see its sales fall by double-digits in the third quarter
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