The European compact car segment is down 29% in the first three quarters of 2020, compared to an overall market down 28%. As a result, compact cars are no longer Europe’s #2 segment, as more small crossovers have been sold so far in 2020. At 1.43 million sales, the share of compact cars is down to 16.6% share of the European car market.
Europe’s best seller is obviously also still the segment leader, but the VW Golf is down 34% as the new generation is just arriving in showrooms, and it loses share. The Skoda Octavia leapfrogs the Ford Focus which means the VW Group takes a 1-2 again in this class. The big winner of the segment is the Toyota Corolla, all new last year and straight into fourth place among non-luxury players and one of just a handful of models selling more this year than in 2019. The Seat Leon also gains share with a loss of 25% thanks to the new generation. The Peugeot 308 and Renault Megane lose share as sales for both models are down by more than 40%, but the big loser of the top-20 is the Opel/Vauxhall Astra, down by more than half and knocked out of the segment overall top-10. The Kia Ceed, Fiat Tipo and Hyundai i30 also lose share, and the latteris closing in on the Tipo and the Skoda Scala, outselling both in Q3.
The Nissan Leaf gains share with its 12% loss, but it’s not the segment’s best selling EV as its rival Volkswagen e-Golf (not counted separately in this table) is still ahead despite being in run-out mode. And for the full-year ranking, the all-new Volkswagen ID.3 is all but guaranteed to finish ahead of the Leaf now that deliveries are in full force. The Hyundai Ioniq outsold the Leaf in Q3 and it leapfogs the Mazda3 in the year-to-date ranking.
The luxury part of the segment accounts for 24.6% of total compact car sales in Europe, up 1.5 percentage points on 2019. The Mercedes-Benz A-Class improves its share and holds on to the #4 spot overall. It even outsold the Ford Focus in Q3 for third place, just 2,500 sales behind the #2. The BMW 1-Series also had a strong third quarter and is now down just 9% on 2019. The all-new Audi A3 outsold the Peugeot 308 in Q3 and could finish the year in overall 8th place. Thanks to the Gran Coupe version, the BMW 2-Series is up 19% this year, while the Mini Clubman loses share with a 34% decline in deliveries in the first nine months of 2020. The Alfa Romeo Giulietta, Lexus CT and Volvo V40 have all been discontinued and replaced by crossover, which are currently in hotter demand than hatchbacks.
| Compact segment | 2020 Q1-Q3 | 2019 Q1-Q3 | Change | 2020 share | 2020-Q3 | |
| 1 | Volkswagen Golf | 203.123 | 306.958 | -34% | 14,2% | 81.957 |
| 2 | Skoda Octavia | 130.699 | 168.355 | -22% | 9,1% | 54.755 |
| 3 | Ford Focus | 129.811 | 177.413 | -27% | 9,1% | 46.394 |
| 4 | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 115.397 | 151.022 | -24% | 8,1% | 52.220 |
| 5 | Toyota Corolla | 102.215 | 94.811 | 8% | 7,1% | 41.015 |
| 6 | Seat Leon | 80.101 | 106.640 | -25% | 5,6% | 33.984 |
| 7 | BMW 1-series | 75.257 | 82.679 | -9% | 5,3% | 30.484 |
| 8 | Peugeot 308 | 65.763 | 108.995 | -40% | 4,6% | 24.639 |
| 9 | Audi A3 / S3 / RS3 | 64.989 | 100.064 | -35% | 4,5% | 27.272 |
| 10 | Renault Megane | 53.643 | 98.802 | -46% | 3,7% | 22.005 |
| 11 | Kia Ceed | 52.767 | 77.387 | -32% | 3,7% | 21.548 |
| 12 | Opel/Vauxhall Astra | 50.403 | 107.036 | -53% | 3,5% | 16.775 |
| 13 | Mercedes-Benz CLA | 49.582 | 44.342 | 12% | 3,5% | 17.896 |
| 14 | Skoda Scala | 39.620 | 18.452 | 115% | 2,8% | 14.968 |
| 15 | Fiat Tipo | 38.756 | 65.876 | -41% | 2,7% | 14.451 |
| 16 | Hyundai i30 | 37.723 | 55.945 | -33% | 2,6% | 15.500 |
| 17 | BMW 2-series Coupe & Convertible | 22.426 | 18.916 | 19% | 1,6% | 12.681 |
| 18 | Nissan Leaf | 20.626 | 23.463 | -12% | 1,4% | 7.836 |
| 19 | Hyundai Ioniq | 20.131 | 24.741 | -19% | 1,4% | 9.036 |
| 20 | Mazda3 | 20.053 | 24.496 | -18% | 1,4% | 7.924 |
| 21 | Honda Civic | 13.900 | 29.972 | -54% | 1,0% | 5.754 |
| 22 | Mini Clubman | 12.628 | 19.094 | -34% | 0,9% | 5.201 |
| 23 | Volkswagen ID.3 | 8.571 | 0 | #DIV/0! | 0,6% | 8.571 |
| 24 | Alfa Romeo Giulietta | 7.325 | 12.494 | -41% | 0,5% | 2.738 |
| 25 | Toyota Prius | 3.585 | 5.626 | -36% | 0,3% | 1.469 |
| 26 | Lexus CT | 3.194 | 4.130 | -23% | 0,2% | 1.461 |
| 27 | Opel Ampera-e | 2.716 | 1.727 | 57% | 0,2% | 234 |
| 28 | Citroën C-Elysee | 2.103 | 5.035 | -58% | 0,1% | 707 |
| 29 | Volvo V40 | 1.824 | 34.288 | -95% | 0,1% | 236 |
| 30 | Hyundai Elantra | 951 | 1.265 | -25% | 0,1% | 201 |
| 31 | Lada Vesta | 561 | 1.254 | -55% | 0,0% | 269 |
| 32 | Peugeot 301 | 475 | 1.111 | -57% | 0,0% | 228 |
| 33 | Subaru Impreza | 362 | 1.332 | -73% | 0,0% | 169 |
| 34 | Skoda Rapid | 311 | 27.815 | -99% | 0,0% | 14 |
| 35 | Citroën C4 | 308 | 129 | 139% | 0,0% | 308 |
| 36 | Infiniti Q30 | 221 | 1.141 | -81% | 0,0% | 5 |
| 37 | Toyota Auris | 75 | 23.518 | -100% | 0,0% | 9 |
| 38 | Volkswagen Jetta | 12 | 82 | -85% | 0,0% | 5 |
| 39 | Volkswagen Beetle | 8 | 383 | -98% | 0,0% | 3 |
| 40 | Seat Toledo | 5 | 1.140 | -100% | 0,0% | 0 |
| 41 | Nissan Pulsar | 2 | 554 | -100% | 0,0% | 0 |
| 42 | DS4 | 1 | 192 | -99% | 0,0% | 0 |
| 43 | Mitsubishi Lancer | 0 | 22 | -100% | 0,0% | 0 |
| 44 | Volkswagen Scirocco | 0 | 3 | -100% | 0,0% | 0 |
| Segment total | 1.432.223 | 2.028.700 | -29% |
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.