European sales 2015 Midsized MPV segment

Sales of Midsized MPVs in Europe are up 4% to 906.300 in 2015, but that’s mostly thanks to two new models as all others in the top-10 lose volume and only 4 out of 18 models actually improve on their 2014 score. The French still lead this segment as their home country is the biggest market in Europe for this type of vehicle. The Citroën C4 Picasso and Renault Scenic, including their Grand versions, have now been joined by the Volkswagen Golf Sportsvan to make it three models with sales over 100.000 units. The Sportsvan is up 75% on its first partial year of sales, but doesn’t set is not a record for the brand, as its predecessor Golf Plus sold more than this in 2005, 2006 and 2009.

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The biggest surprise comes from the BMW 2-series Active Tourer & Gran Tourer, which manages to not only outsell its luxury rival Mercedes-Benz B-Class but also the Golf Sportsvan in Q4 and the Ford C-Max and Grand C-Max over the entire year with its sales of over 85.000 units. That leaves the Ford in fifth place, down from third in 2014 despite sales down just 5%. Even worse is the performance of the Volkswagen Touran which drops from fourth to seventh as it loses 17% of its volume. The new generation Touran was revealed at the Geneva Auto Show in March but production got off to a very slow start and it didn’t arrive in showrooms until Q4, when it immediately outsold the B-Class.

The Opel/Vauxhall Zafira is the biggest loser of the segment, but that’s also because dealers in some countries (most notably the UK and Germany) had continued to sell the previous generation Zafira called Zafira Family as a cheaper version of the larger new generation Zafira Tourer until early 2015. The Dacia Lodgy is one of the existing models to improve, as it moves past the Kia Carens, thanks to the addition of the Stepway version. The Toyota Prius+ is the fourth and final model to grow its sales in 2015 thanks to its minor facelift which helped it improve 47% in Q4. That helped it outsell the Seat Altea in the last quarter, as that model was down to almost below 100 sales in the last 2 months as it’s in the final stage of its life cycle.

2016 will bring an all-new Scenic from Renault in the 2nd half of the year which will be more crossover-like than the current one, similar to what the brand has done to the Espace. The Grand Scenic should then become the true people carrier for the brand. Peugeot will renew its 3008 and that will go one step further and become a true crossover to compete directly with the Nissan Qashqai and Renault Kadjar, while the next-gen Zafira and Peugeot 5008 with which it will share its platform are likely to follow the same strategy as the Scenic.

	Midsized MPV segment	2015	2014	Change
1.	Citroën C4 (Grand) Picasso	110.969	117.102	-5%
2.	Renault (Grand) Scenic	108.583	110.023	-1%
3.	Volkswagen Sportsvan	103.905	59.421	75%
4.	BMW 2-series Active/Gran Tourer	85.760	12.172	605%
5.	Ford (Grand) C-Max	85.035	89.782	-5%
6.	Mercedes-Benz B-Class	79.721	83.597	-5%
7.	Volkswagen Touran	73.767	89.394	-17%
8.	Peugeot 3008	67.079	78.215	-14%
9.	Opel/Vauxhall Zafira	55.933	82.159	-32%
10.	Toyota Verso	31.872	32.875	-3%
11.	Peugeot 5008	31.444	34.588	-9%
12.	Dacia Lodgy	22.880	21.063	9%
13.	Kia Carens	21.967	22.307	-2%
14.	Seat Altea	14.947	18.254	-18%
15.	Toyota Prius+	7.120	5.767	23%
16.	Mazda5	5.258	6.626	-21%
17.	Chevrolet Orlando	44	2.925	-98%
18.	Volkswagen Golf Plus	16	6.415	-100%
	Segment total	906.300	872.685	4%

Click on any model to see its annual sales from 1997-2013 and monthly sales in 2012, 2013 and 2014, or use the dropdown menu in the top right of this site.

Sources: Manufacturers, ANDC, JATO Dynamics.