Sales of compact cars in Europe are down 10% in the first quarter of 2021, in a stable overall market. With just under 467,000 deliveries, the segment now makes up just 15.3% of the European car market, down from 17.1% in Q1 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 74,000 more small crossovers than compact cars and even bought more compact crossovers than compact cars in Q1.
The Volkswagen Golf may no longer be Europe’s best seller, but it is still on top of the compact car ranking, despite a 22% decline in sales and a market share down 1.8 percentage points. Its sibling Skoda Octavia consolidates its second place with sales up 6% and gains 1.5 percentage points of share. We have a newcomer on the segment podium as the Ford Focus drops by almost half and falls to an overall #7 spot, allowing the Toyota Corolla to enter the top-3 for the first time ever, despite sales down 12%. The Focus is still in fourth place among mainstream models, just ahead of the Seat Leon, down 12%. The Peugeot 308, soon to be renewed, is down 17%, while the Renault Megane is up 14% thanks to the addition of the plug-in hybrid version. The Kia Ceed is down 13% and the Opel/Vauxhall Astra continues to lose sales and share at -26%. The Volkswagen ID.3 EV lands in the top-10 among mainstream models (#14 overall), the same position where it finished 2020. Volkswagen Group improves its share of the compact class from 35% in Q1 of 2020 to 38.7%, while Stellantis’ share is stable at 12.3%.
The Hyundai i30 is down 14%, with the all-new Citroën C4 landing at #16, just ahead of the Skoda Scala. The Fiat Tipo is the biggest loser in the top-20 at -40%, while the Nissan Leaf EV gains share with sales down just 5%. Other big losers are the Mazda3 at -35% and Honda Civic at -51%.
Besides the ID.3 and the C4, we welcome the Chinese electric stationwagon MG5 to the charts as well as the the Suzuki Swace, a clone of the Corolla hybrid station wagon.
The luxury part of the segment accounts for 26.3% of total compact car sales in Europe, up 2.9 percentage points on Q1 of 2020. The Mercedes-Benz A-Class keeps its share stable and holds on to the #4 spot overall. The Audi A3 is up 40% and into fifth place overall thanks to the new generation. That puts it back ahead of the BMW 1-Series which sees stable sales on last year. The Mercedes-Benz CLA is down 24%, while the BMW 2-Series Coupe & Convertible are up 83% thanks to the addition of the front-wheel drive Gran Coupe. The Mini Clubman loses share with a 22% decline.
| Compact segment | 2021-Q1 | 2020-Q1 | Change | 2021 share | 2020 share | |
| 1 | Volkswagen Golf | 58.342 | 74.550 | -22% | 12,5% | 14,3% |
| 2 | Skoda Octavia | 46.165 | 43.699 | 6% | 9,9% | 8,4% |
| 3 | Toyota Corolla | 36.156 | 41.150 | -12% | 7,7% | 7,9% |
| 4 | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 34.937 | 38.637 | -10% | 7,5% | 7,4% |
| 5 | Audi A3 / S3 / RS3 | 29.188 | 20.793 | 40% | 6,3% | 4,0% |
| 6 | BMW 1-series | 28.515 | 28.377 | 0% | 6,1% | 5,5% |
| 7 | Ford Focus | 27.771 | 52.335 | -47% | 5,9% | 10,1% |
| 8 | Seat Leon | 25.002 | 28.466 | -12% | 5,4% | 5,5% |
| 9 | Peugeot 308 | 20.940 | 25.348 | -17% | 4,5% | 4,9% |
| 10 | Renault Megane | 20.440 | 17.876 | 14% | 4,4% | 3,4% |
| 11 | Kia Ceed | 15.596 | 17.895 | -13% | 3,3% | 3,4% |
| 12 | Opel/Vauxhall Astra | 14.819 | 19.920 | -26% | 3,2% | 3,8% |
| 13 | Mercedes-Benz CLA | 14.647 | 19.229 | -24% | 3,1% | 3,7% |
| 14 | Volkswagen ID.3 | 11.983 | 47 | 25396% | 2,6% | 0,0% |
| 15 | Hyundai i30 | 11.518 | 13.408 | -14% | 2,5% | 2,6% |
| 16 | Citroën C4 | 11.056 | 0 | New | 2,4% | 0,0% |
| 17 | Skoda Scala | 10.141 | 14.251 | -29% | 2,2% | 2,7% |
| 18 | BMW 2-series Coupe & Convertible | 9.672 | 5.273 | 83% | 2,1% | 1,0% |
| 19 | Fiat Tipo | 8.976 | 14.845 | -40% | 1,9% | 2,9% |
| 20 | Nissan Leaf | 8.048 | 8.509 | -5% | 1,7% | 1,6% |
| 21 | Hyundai Ioniq | 6.248 | 7.029 | -11% | 1,3% | 1,4% |
| 22 | Mazda3 | 4.967 | 7.589 | -35% | 1,1% | 1,5% |
| 23 | Mini Clubman | 3.583 | 4.595 | -22% | 0,8% | 0,9% |
| 24 | Honda Civic | 2.853 | 5.864 | -51% | 0,6% | 1,1% |
| 25 | Alfa Romeo Giulietta | 1.534 | 2.658 | -42% | 0,3% | 0,5% |
| 26 | Toyota Prius | 920 | 1.203 | -24% | 0,2% | 0,2% |
| 27 | MG5 | 886 | 0 | New | 0,2% | 0,0% |
| 28 | Lexus CT | 738 | 1.139 | -35% | 0,2% | 0,2% |
| 29 | Suzuki Swace | 552 | 0 | New | 0,1% | 0,0% |
| 30 | Citroën C-Elysee | 333 | 857 | -61% | 0,1% | 0,2% |
| 31 | Subaru Impreza | 173 | 47 | 268% | 0,0% | 0,0% |
| 32 | Peugeot 301 | 164 | 89 | 84% | 0,0% | 0,0% |
| 33 | Opel Ampera-e | 61 | 2.006 | -97% | 0,0% | 0,4% |
| 34 | Hyundai Elantra | 60 | 522 | -89% | 0,0% | 0,1% |
| 35 | Volvo V40 | 3 | 1.191 | -100% | 0,0% | 0,2% |
| Segment total | 466.987 | 519.986 | -10% |
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.