The Small Crossover segment is still one the hottest segment of the market, besides the tiny EV segment, and continues to surge at a 50% growth rate as new entrants keep being introduced to the segment while the existing models keep growing. There are no less than 5 new players in the segment this year and only one model in the top-12 loses volume so far this year, and that’s only by a mere 250 units. You won’t be surprised to still find the Renault Captur on top of the ranking, although that position is getting more hard-fought by the quarter, as the Opel/Vauxhall Mokka was only 1.300 units behind in the past three months combined. That means the Mokka has firmly consolidated its second place in the segment and proves to be a second, badly needed, successful model with the Adam minicar.
The Peugeot 2008 simply can’t keep up with the sales volume of the two leaders, but still increases its lead over the Dacia Duster, which is now really starting to show its age, but there’s nothing released yet on a possible replacement. The Duster barely managed to outsell the Nissan Juke in Q3 and is likely to drop a few places in 2016 as the only Unique Selling Point it has to keep up with the fresh new product being launched is its bottom-basement price.
So far this year, the Citroën C4 Cactus manages to keep the Fiat 500X at bay, athough the Italian model outsold the French crossover by 1.100 units in Q3. That puts the 500X clearly ahead of its corporate sibling Jeep Renegade, which is surprisingly popular in Italy, where 43% of the European Renegades are sold and where it takes an 18th place in the overall model ranking so far, even outselling the Captur in September.
In my first half analysis of the small crossover segment, I had predicted the Ford Ecosport would be overtaken by the Suzuki Vitara by the end of Q3 or otherwise surely by the end of the year. Well, the Vitara outsold the Ford by more than 4.000 units in Q3, which was not enough to take that 9th place, but which does make it ever so likely that it will happen by the end of the year, with just 900 units between the two rivals.
Meanwhile the Mazda CX-3 has a successful launch, also outselling the EcoSport in August and not far behind in September, when the EcoSport benefited from a traditionally strong month in the UK. We finally welcome the Honda HR-V to the segment in Europe, a model that has been on sale in other parts of the world for 2 years already. In its first full month of sales, it already manages to outsell the SsangYong Tivoli year-to-date and close in on the outgoing Suzuki SX4.
So far, the Korean manufacturers have seem to completely missed the rising popularity of small crossovers, and they must be kicking themselves for only making the Hyundai ix25 and Kia KX3 available in China and other developing markets, but not for Europe, in a similar fashion that PSA only focused on China for its Citroën C3-XR and DS6 crossovers. Kia has just revealed that it will introduce its Niro crossover as a hybrid-only model in Europe in the second half of 2016, potentially fitting it with conventional engines later on. From Toyota, we have no news yet on a possible small crossover.
2015 January – September small crossover sales Europe
| Small SUV segment | Jan-Sep 2015 | Jan-Sep 2014 | Change | |
| 1. | Renault Captur | 147.832 | 121.590 | 22% |
| 2. | Opel/Vauxhall Mokka | 126.605 | 90.885 | 39% |
| 3. | Peugeot 2008 | 116.844 | 102.451 | 14% |
| 4. | Dacia Duster | 94.556 | 94.799 | 0% |
| 5. | Nissan Juke | 79.673 | 72.141 | 10% |
| 6. | Citroën C4 Cactus | 61.690 | 13.577 | 354% |
| 7. | Fiat 500X | 49.642 | 0 | New |
| 8. | Jeep Renegade | 39.764 | 460 | 8544% |
| 9. | Ford Ecosport | 27.447 | 7.134 | 285% |
| 10. | Suzuki Vitara | 26.546 | 0 | New |
| 11. | Mazda CX-3 | 12.539 | 0 | New |
| 12. | Suzuki Jimny | 9.250 | 7.922 | 17% |
| 13. | Suzuki SX4 | 2.999 | 11.334 | -74% |
| 14. | Honda HR-V | 2.801 | 0 | New |
| 15. | SsangYong Tivoli | 2.443 | 0 | New |
| 16. | Lada Niva | 1.199 | 1.027 | 17% |
| 17. | Fiat Sedici | 239 | 2.480 | -90% |
| 18. | Chevrolet Trax | 205 | 9.024 | -98% |
| 19. | DR CityCross | 60 | 120 | -50% |
| Segment total | 802.334 | 534.945 | 50% |
Also check out the 2015-H1 subcompact crossover segment in the United States.
Click on any model to see its annual sales from 1997-2014 and monthly sales in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015, or use the dropdown menu in the top right of this site. Sources: Manufacturers, ANDC, JATO Dynamics.