Sales of large MPVs in Europe continue to freefall in the first quarter of 2021. Sales are down 41% on Q1 of 2020, after a 43% decline in the full year. As a result, the share of the large MPV segment falls from 0.5% in Q1 of 2020 to 0.3% in Q1 of 2021.
All top-4 nameplates in this segment lose more than a quarter of their sales on the same period of last year, by a large margin trailing the overall market which is stable. Not a single nameplate manages to sell more than 1,000 monthly units, and considering Europe is pretty much the only market for these models, one can imagine why manufacturers aren’t investing much in new product anymore. The Ford S-Max takes control of the ranking with sales down just 25%, making it the best performing nameplate in the segment, just ahead of its sibling Ford Galaxy at -26%. As a result, Ford improves its share of the class from 40.3% last year to 51.2%. Volkswagen Group’s two nameplates each lose more than half of their sales of last year, as the Seat Alhambra is knocked down into second place and the Volkswagen Sharan barely holds on to its podium position. VW Group’s share of the class shrinks from 57.1% to 40.4%. With the Volkswagen Tiguan Allspace and Seat Tarraco, the brands have 7-seat alternatives in the crossover segment and the MPVs are unlikely to be overhauled to a new generation. Ford now also has a 7-seat SUV as well with the Explorer PHEV imported from the USA, although that’s an entirely different kind of vehicle. The third remaining manufacturer still present in this segment is Renault with the Espace. The Renault Espace has been updated and starts the year relatively strong as the only nameplate to actually improve its sales, as it almost doubles its sales at +92%, but it remains by far the slowest seller of the bunch, at less than half the figure of the next best seller.
| Large MPV segment | 2021-Q1 | 2020-Q1 | Change | 2021 share | 2020 share | |
| 1 | Ford S-Max | 2.734 | 3.648 | -25% | 32,6% | 25,5% |
| 2 | Seat Alhambra | 1.816 | 4.639 | -61% | 21,6% | 32,4% |
| 3 | Volkswagen Sharan | 1.570 | 3.525 | -55% | 18,7% | 24,7% |
| 4 | Ford Galaxy | 1.558 | 2.113 | -26% | 18,6% | 14,8% |
| 5 | Renault Espace | 713 | 371 | 92% | 8,5% | 2,6% |
| Segment total | 8.391 | 14.300 | -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.