Jaguar F-Pace and Range Rover Velar star, sales of Alfa Romeo Stelvio, as segment grows by almost 10% in 2017
Sales in the premium mid-sized SUV segment rose by 7.2% to 130,824 in the fourth quarter of 2017, while overall sales in 2017 rose by 9.4% to 464,373. Such robust growth over the course of 2017 allowed the segment to close the gap to the premium large SUV segment, which is still the largest from among premium SUV segments at 518,902 sales in 2017. With the new Audi Q5, Alfa Romeo Stelvio and Range Rover Velar still building sales, the new BMW X3 and Volvo XC60 just having arrived, plus the new Acura RDX and Infiniti QX50 coming to market before long, the segment is bound to strongly once again in 2018.
Highlights
- No change at the very front, with the Cadillac XT5 pulling slightly more ahead of the Lexus NX
- The new Audi Q5 is being embraced wholeheartedly by buyers, coming to within 100 units of outselling the XT5 in the fourth quarter, when it experienced almost 30% growth compared to Q4’16, and leaping into third place for 2017 overall
- Despite losing out to the Q5 in 2017 the about-to-be-replaced Acura RDX held up remarkably well in fourth, with the Mercedes-Benz GLC not being able to make much of an inroad
- The new BMW X3 could not arrive fast enough, as the outgoing model lost 30% of sales in the second quarter of 2017, dropping it behind the GLC in the year standings
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
- Lincoln MKC, Volvo XC60 and Porsche Macan all saw their sales grow in line with the segment, a particularly good performance for the about-to-be-replaced Volvo, which benefited from a clear sales push in Q3’17 when its sales were up 40%
- Jaguar F-Pace quickly established itself in the market, almost outselling its target competitor, the Macan, though by the fourth quarter its growth had all but come to a halt, suggesting the current 10th position is where the model may remain in the segment in the coming year
- Both Infiniti QX50 and Land Rover Discovery Sport pretty much held onto their sales in 2017, which will be better news for the soon-to-be-replaced Infiniti than for the still-new Land Rover, which was outsold by its flashier cousin, Range Rover Velar, in the fourth quarter
- The new Audi Allroad did well to gain over 40% of sales in 2017, the highest growth rate from among those models which were sold throughout both 2016 and 2017, but remains a niche choice
- Finally, sales of Alfa Romeo Stelvio have finally taken off in the fourth quarter, allowing the model to outsell both the A4 Allroad and BMW X4, though the brand will surely hope for a stronger-still performance in 2018
Note: clicking on the model names in legend turns the display for that model on/off; data is displayed from 1990 onwards, but starts earlier – access previous years using slider on bottom