European sales of subcompact cars, Europe’s largest segment by volume, were down 41% to 974,000 units in the first half of 2020, which means the segment now makes up 19% of the European car market, down from 19.8% in the first half of 2019 and 19.1% in all of 2019.
It appears from the top-3 that the freshest models are least affected by the downturn, with the Renault Clio remaining the best seller of the class and improving its share, followed by the Peugeot 208 and Opel/Vauxhall Corsa, both beating the market and improving their shares as well. That means the Volkswagen Polo and Ford Fiesta, last year’s top-3 players, are down into 4th and 6th, with the Polo losing 49% of its sales and the Fiesta down 44%. The Toyota Yaris moves past the Fiesta, even though it’s due to be replaced by a new generation soon. The Citroën C3 and Dacia Sandero are losing ground as their good runs of the last few years appear to have come to an end. The only nameplate to sell more in the first quarter of 2020 than it did in the same period last year is the Renault Zoe EV, up an impressive 54% to already nearly hit its full-year 2018 figure. It moves into 1th place, right between the Skoda Fabia and Seat Ibiza, and well ahead of the Hyundai i20. It gives Renault-Nissan a 29.3% share of the segment, compared to 26.2% for PSA and 17.1% for VW Group.
The Nissan Micra is overtaken by the Suzuki Swift while the Dacia Logan stays ahead of the Kia Rio and the big losers of the class are the Mazda2, down 65%, and Suzuki Baleno, down 81%. We welcome the all-electric Honda e to the rankings with its first 279 registrations.
The luxury part of the segment accounts for 9.5% of sales, up from 8.9% in 2019. The Mini stays firmly in control, taking a 10th place overall with sales down 31%. The Audi A1 gains share with sales down 37% while the Lancia Ypsilon is down 46% as its sole market Italy has suffered more from lockdowns than the rest of Europe. The DS3 and Alfa Romeo MiTo have been killed, leaving this subsegment with just 3 players.
| Subcompact segment | 2020-H1 | 2019-H1 | Change | 2020 share | 2019 share | 2020-Q2 | |
| 1 | Renault Clio | 119.568 | 183.651 | -35% | 12,3% | 11,1% | 59.905 |
| 2 | Peugeot 208 | 85.773 | 123.809 | -31% | 8,8% | 7,5% | 35.180 |
| 3 | Opel/Vauxhall Corsa | 80.779 | 121.687 | -34% | 8,3% | 7,4% | 31.682 |
| 4 | Volkswagen Polo | 75.694 | 148.402 | -49% | 7,8% | 9,0% | 28.552 |
| 5 | Toyota Yaris | 75.422 | 116.294 | -35% | 7,7% | 7,1% | 31.464 |
| 6 | Ford Fiesta | 70.864 | 126.505 | -44% | 7,3% | 7,7% | 26.384 |
| 7 | Dacia Sandero | 67.113 | 121.980 | -45% | 6,9% | 7,4% | 33.743 |
| 8 | Citroën C3 | 65.453 | 117.490 | -44% | 6,7% | 7,1% | 27.875 |
| 9 | Skoda Fabia | 45.832 | 85.314 | -46% | 4,7% | 5,2% | 19.523 |
| 10 | Mini | 44.963 | 65.535 | -31% | 4,6% | 4,0% | 18.828 |
| 11 | Renault Zoe | 36.663 | 23.736 | 54% | 3,8% | 1,4% | 16.225 |
| 12 | Seat Ibiza | 29.755 | 53.341 | -44% | 3,1% | 3,2% | 10.557 |
| 13 | Audi A1 | 28.646 | 45.494 | -37% | 2,9% | 2,8% | 10.954 |
| 14 | Hyundai i20 | 27.486 | 43.478 | -37% | 2,8% | 2,6% | 10.930 |
| 15 | Suzuki Swift | 20.989 | 32.295 | -35% | 2,2% | 2,0% | 9.256 |
| 16 | Nissan Micra | 18.845 | 37.343 | -50% | 1,9% | 2,3% | 6.138 |
| 17 | Lancia Ypsilon | 18.772 | 34.714 | -46% | 1,9% | 2,1% | 6.056 |
| 18 | Dacia Logan | 15.863 | 29.626 | -46% | 1,6% | 1,8% | 6.646 |
| 19 | Kia Rio | 15.513 | 20.898 | -26% | 1,6% | 1,3% | 6.677 |
| 20 | Fiat 500L | 10.024 | 24.408 | -59% | 1,0% | 1,5% | 3.858 |
| 21 | Honda Jazz | 9.580 | 17.183 | -44% | 1,0% | 1,0% | 3.219 |
| 22 | Mazda2 | 6.368 | 18.457 | -65% | 0,7% | 1,1% | 2.696 |
| 23 | Suzuki Baleno | 1.584 | 8.135 | -81% | 0,2% | 0,5% | 755 |
| 24 | MG3 | 1.299 | 1.973 | -34% | 0,1% | 0,1% | 347 |
| 25 | Hyundai ix20 | 611 | 8.507 | -93% | 0,1% | 0,5% | 83 |
| 26 | Honda e | 279 | 0 | New | 0,0% | 0,0% | 279 |
| 27 | Kia Venga | 82 | 6.611 | -99% | 0,0% | 0,4% | 22 |
| 28 | Ford Ka+ | 49 | 26.166 | -100% | 0,0% | 1,6% | 8 |
| 29 | DS3 | 9 | 4.602 | -100% | 0,0% | 0,3% | 5 |
| 30 | Fiat Punto | 9 | 441 | -98% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 4 |
| Segment total | 973.887 | 1.648.784 | -41% |
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.