Sales of compact cars in Europe are up 16% in the first half of 2021, in an overall market up 26%. When compared to the first six months of 2019, the compact car segment is down 30% in a market down 22%. With just over 991,000 deliveries, the segment now makes up just 15.3% of the European car market, down from 16.6% in the same period of 2020. If Europeans bought more small crossovers than compact cars in the first three quarters of 2020 (but not in the full year), they now bought 180,000 more small crossovers than compact cars. In Q1 they even bought more compact crossovers than compact cars, but this order has been reversed again in Q2.
The Volkswagen Golf is back on top as Europe’s best seller and thus logically maintains its top spot above all compact cars, despite losing share with sales up just 6%. Its nearest rivals are closing in but the gap remains unbridgeable. The Golf’s sibling Skoda Octavia is up 21% on last year while the Toyota Corolla is up 24% as both knock down the #2 of last year Ford Focus, which is down into 8th place and the worst performing model in the class at -39%. The Seat Leon makes it three VW Group players in the mainstream top-4 and four in the overall top-7. The Leon is up 17% to keep its share of the class stable. The Renault Megane gains share with sales up 30% thanks to recent updates and the addition of a plug-in hybrid version, also for the station wagon. The Kia Ceed was in 8th place in Q2, outselling the Megane and the Focus, but remains in 10th place for now.
The Peugeot 308 drops from #9 in Q1 to 11th place after Q2 with sales down 13% on last year, just when a new generation is arriving in showrooms. The Opel/Vauxhall Astra is also due for a redesign on that same platform as the 308 and is down 4%. Both were outsold in Q2 by the Volkswagen ID.3 and Citroën C4. The ID.3 had a slow start of the year because the manufacturer needed a few months to get rid of the unsold stock it registered at the end of 2020 in order to reduce its emissions penalty, but the all-electric hatchback stared to pick up momentum in Q2. The C4 is on its way to the nameplate’s best year since 2013 although that was an entirely different car back then. The Hyundai i30 is up 16% to move with the segment average, distancing the Skoda Scala and Fiat Tipo which are both down on last year. The Nissan Leaf gains share and stays ahead of the Hyundai Ioniq, while the Mazda3 is also closing in on the Ioniq, despite dropping 2% on last year. A new generation Honda Civic is on its way and the outgoing model is down 17% on last year. We welcome the MG5 to the ranking, an all-electric budget station wagon at #26 and the Suzuki Swace, a hybrid station wagon which is not much more than a rebadged Corolla.
The luxury part of the segment accounts for 25.7% of total compact car sales in Europe, up 1.9 percentage points on the first half of 2020. The Mercedes-Benz A-Class loses share and holds on to the #4 spot overall despite being outsold in Q2 by the Audi A3, up 71% and into fifth place overall thanks to the new generation. That puts it well ahead of the BMW 1-Series which also gains market share. The Mercedes-Benz CLA is down 5%, while the BMW 2-Series Coupe & Convertible are up 120% thanks to the addition of the front-wheel drive Gran Coupe. The Mini Clubman loses share with just 3% more deliveries.
| Compact segment | 2021-H1 | 2020-H1 | Change | 2021 share | 2020 share | |
| 1 | Volkswagen Golf | 128.143 | 121.166 | 6% | 12,9% | 14,2% |
| 2 | Skoda Octavia | 91.682 | 75.944 | 21% | 9,2% | 8,9% |
| 3 | Toyota Corolla | 75.656 | 61.200 | 24% | 7,6% | 7,2% |
| 4 | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 68.866 | 63.177 | 9% | 6,9% | 7,4% |
| 5 | Audi A3 / S3 / RS3 | 64.590 | 37.717 | 71% | 6,5% | 4,4% |
| 6 | BMW 1-series | 58.904 | 44.773 | 32% | 5,9% | 5,3% |
| 7 | Seat Leon | 53.807 | 46.117 | 17% | 5,4% | 5,4% |
| 8 | Ford Focus | 50.861 | 83.417 | -39% | 5,1% | 9,8% |
| 9 | Renault Megane | 41.160 | 31.638 | 30% | 4,2% | 3,7% |
| 10 | Kia Ceed | 39.501 | 31.219 | 27% | 4,0% | 3,7% |
| 11 | Peugeot 308 | 35.774 | 41.124 | -13% | 3,6% | 4,8% |
| 12 | Opel/Vauxhall Astra | 32.259 | 33.628 | -4% | 3,3% | 3,9% |
| 13 | Volkswagen ID.3 | 31.514 | 179 | 17506% | 3,2% | 0,0% |
| 14 | Citroën C4 | 30.945 | 0 | New | 3,1% | 0,0% |
| 15 | Mercedes-Benz CLA | 30.216 | 31.686 | -5% | 3,0% | 3,7% |
| 16 | Hyundai i30 | 25.699 | 22.223 | 16% | 2,6% | 2,6% |
| 17 | Skoda Scala | 23.520 | 24.652 | -5% | 2,4% | 2,9% |
| 18 | Fiat Tipo | 22.203 | 24.305 | -9% | 2,2% | 2,9% |
| 19 | BMW 2-series Coupe & Convertible | 21.437 | 9.745 | 120% | 2,2% | 1,1% |
| 20 | Nissan Leaf | 15.895 | 12.790 | 24% | 1,6% | 1,5% |
| 21 | Hyundai Ioniq | 12.280 | 11.095 | 11% | 1,2% | 1,3% |
| 22 | Mazda3 | 11.864 | 12.129 | -2% | 1,2% | 1,4% |
| 23 | Mini Clubman | 7.674 | 7.427 | 3% | 0,8% | 0,9% |
| 24 | Honda Civic | 6.726 | 8.146 | -17% | 0,7% | 1,0% |
| 25 | Alfa Romeo Giulietta | 2.396 | 4.587 | -48% | 0,2% | 0,5% |
| 26 | MG5 | 1.795 | 0 | New | 0,2% | 0,0% |
| 27 | Suzuki Swace | 1.712 | 0 | New | 0,2% | 0,0% |
| 28 | Toyota Prius | 1.644 | 2.116 | -22% | 0,2% | 0,2% |
| 29 | Lexus CT | 1.088 | 1.733 | -37% | 0,1% | 0,2% |
| 30 | Citroën C-Elysee | 619 | 1.396 | -56% | 0,1% | 0,2% |
| 31 | Hyundai Elantra | 394 | 750 | -47% | 0,0% | 0,1% |
| 32 | Peugeot 301 | 363 | 247 | 47% | 0,0% | 0,0% |
| 33 | Subaru Impreza | 293 | 193 | 52% | 0,0% | 0,0% |
| 34 | Opel Ampera-e | 106 | 2.482 | -96% | 0,0% | 0,3% |
| 35 | Volvo V40 | 7 | 1.588 | -100% | 0,0% | 0,2% |
| Segment total | 991.593 | 851.480 | 16% |
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.