2018 Sales of small MPVs in Europe are falling at accelerating pace with a 48% decline to fewer than 135.000 sales, which means the segment now accounts for less than 1% of total European volume. And this result would have been much worse if we hadn’t decided to include the Honda Jazz into this segment now as well, after frequent comments from our readers. The Jazz is also classified a subcompact hatchback, but we agree there’s validity in the reasoning why it should also be compared to the small MPVs. Without the Jazz, the segment would be down 57% as it’s now one of just 2 models to improve their sales in this segment, whil all others lose 20% or more. The Fiat 500L holds on to its segment lead and increases its share of the segment as it has done every year since its launch. But that’s less a result of its own strength than of the segment’s weakness as sales off the big Fiat have declined for 4 years in a row now, just by less than the overall segment as competitors have been killed. The Jazz now moves into second place of the segment, by far the highest of any Honda model in any segment in Europe.
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
It is followed by two Korean models which will soon be killed off as well, which would leave only 2 volume models in this class, and one niche model. The Hyundai ix20 and Kia Venga both lose more than a quarter of their sales as their brands both launched small crossovers as unofficial replacements for the slow-selling small MPVs. The Opel Ampera-e is the big winner among its peers, with a gain of 38%, but that translates to just 2.700 sales for the all-electric MPV. As mentioned before, since PSA buys this car from General Motors it has no incentive to sell it, especially not at a loss, and as a result it has raised prices as soon as the takeover was a done deal. The Ampera-e is priced similarly to the BMW i3, which greatly reduces the its chances of success in Europe, and it’s likely to remain a niche player, especially compared to the Renault Zoe, Nissan Leaf, Hyundai Kona EV and Tesla Model 3.
All other nameplates in the table below have already been pulled from the market and won’t return. A new generation Jazz is planned and Fiat may give the 500L another facelift and a hybrid version before also replacing it with a crossover.
| Small MPV segment | 2018 | 2017 | Change | |
| 1 | Fiat 500L | 50.224 | 63.100 | -20% |
| 2 | Honda Jazz | 37.894 | 34.898 | 9% |
| 3 | Hyundai ix20 | 22.594 | 31.708 | -29% |
| 4 | Kia Venga | 17.328 | 23.803 | -27% |
| 5 | Ford B-Max | 3.545 | 43.339 | -92% |
| 6 | Opel Ampera-e | 2.731 | 1.986 | 38% |
| 7 | Opel/Vauxhall Meriva | 221 | 26.680 | -99% |
| 8 | Nissan Note | 145 | 12.546 | -99% |
| 9 | Citroën C3 Picasso | 56 | 21.617 | -100% |
| 10 | Toyota Verso-S | 4 | 35 | -89% |
| Segment total | 134.742 | 259.712 | -48% |
Click on any model to see its annual sales from 1997-2018 and monthly sales from 2015 to 2018, or use the dropdown menu in the top right of this site.
Car sales statistics are from the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland.
Sources: Manufacturers, ANDC, JATO Dynamics.