Sales of minicars were down 38% in the first quarter of 2020, compared to a total market loss of 25%, which means this segment now makes up 6.7% of the total European car market at just under 205,000 sales, down from 8.1% in Q1 of 2019 and 7.7% in all of 2019. And with margins on minicars under pressure due to increased costs to comply with stricter safety and emissions standards, manufacturers are scaling back investments in to minicars or switching strategies, either to go EV-only in this segment or to go premium, putting the pricing of minicar in line with those of subcompact cars.
The Fiat Panda continues to lead the segment ahead of its sibling Fiat 500, and the Italian duo actually manages to expand its share of the class from 29.8% in Q1 of 2019 to 34.9%. The Toyota Aygo manages to keep its podium position and with its 13% loss is actually the best performer of the top-9, gaining 3.3 percentage points of share. The Renault Twingo moves ahead of the Volkswagen Up! which is hte biggest loser of the top-10. The Korean duo Kia Picanto and Hyundai i10 are down by around 30% each but the PSA twins Peugeot 108 and Citroën C1 both beat the market despite losing around a quarter of their sales of last year. The only nameplate in the top-15 to sell more in the first quarter of 2020 is the Mitsubishi Space Star, allowing it to enter the top-10, surpassing the Suzuki Ignis (-28%), Skoda Citigo (-68%) and Smart Fortwo (-84%), the latter two of which have ended sales of gasoline-powered versions and are now EV-only. The same goes for the Seat Mii (-57%) and Smart Forfour (-88%), closing out the top-15. Best performer in relative terms is the Citroën C-Zero EV with sales almost tripling as final inventories are cleared. Sales of the Opel/Vauxhall Adam and Opel Karl/Vauxhall Viva have already ended.
| Minicar segment | 2020-Q1 | 2019-Q1 | Change | 2020 share | 2019 share | |
| 1 | Fiat Panda | 37.409 | 52.410 | -29% | 18,3% | 15,8% |
| 2 | Fiat 500 | 33.936 | 46.166 | -26% | 16,6% | 13,9% |
| 3 | Toyota Aygo | 23.104 | 26.665 | -13% | 11,3% | 8,0% |
| 4 | Renault Twingo | 15.795 | 21.078 | -25% | 7,7% | 6,4% |
| 5 | Volkswagen Up! | 14.380 | 23.223 | -38% | 7,0% | 7,0% |
| 6 | Kia Picanto | 14.261 | 21.036 | -32% | 7,0% | 6,3% |
| 7 | Hyundai i10 | 13.896 | 19.972 | -30% | 6,8% | 6,0% |
| 8 | Peugeot 108 | 11.978 | 15.759 | -24% | 5,9% | 4,8% |
| 9 | Citroën C1 | 11.285 | 15.345 | -26% | 5,5% | 4,6% |
| 10 | Mitsubishi Space Star | 10.169 | 9.965 | 2% | 5,0% | 3,0% |
| 11 | Suzuki Ignis | 7.792 | 10.818 | -28% | 3,8% | 3,3% |
| 12 | Skoda Citigo | 3.367 | 10.491 | -68% | 1,6% | 3,2% |
| 13 | Smart Fortwo | 2.451 | 15.548 | -84% | 1,2% | 4,7% |
| 14 | Seat Mii | 1.791 | 4.173 | -57% | 0,9% | 1,3% |
| 15 | Smart Forfour | 1.071 | 8.684 | -88% | 0,5% | 2,6% |
| 16 | Suzuki Celerio | 1.014 | 3.707 | -73% | 0,5% | 1,1% |
| 17 | Citroën C-Zero | 783 | 286 | 174% | 0,4% | 0,1% |
| 18 | Peugeot iOn | 149 | 373 | -60% | 0,1% | 0,1% |
| 19 | Citroën E-Mehari | 50 | 47 | 6% | 0,0% | 0,0% |
| 20 | Mitsubishi i-MiEV | 13 | 68 | -81% | 0,0% | 0,0% |
| 21 | Opel/Vauxhall Adam | 3 | 13.046 | -100% | 0% | 3,9% |
| 22 | Opel Karl / Vauxhall Viva | 0 | 12.412 | -100% | 0% | 3,7% |
| 23 | Mitsubishi Attrage | 0 | 23 | -100% | 0% | 0,0% |
| Segment total | 204.697 | 331.295 | -38% |
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.