Sales of compact crossovers in Europe are up 37% in the first half of 2021 which beats the overall market at +26%. As a result, compact crossovers now make up 15.1% of the total European car market, up from 13.9% in the first six months of 2020. When compared to the first half of 2019, compact crossovers are down 12% while the market is down 22%. However, after passing the compact car class in the first quarter of 2021, compact crossovers have fall behind again after Q2 to be back as the #4 segment in Europe.
The Volkswagen Tiguan holds on to the class leadership with sales up 26%, but is losing share and it felt the Peugeot 3008 breathing down its neck in Q2, just 1,600 sales behind. Keep in mind that Volkswagen doesn’t publish split figures for the regular Tiguan and the long wheelbase 7-seater Tiguan Allspace, so we’re estimating the split at 85/15. In third place we find the Hyundai Tucson thanks to the new generation with a polarizing design that still seems to be well-accepted. The hybrid and PHEV versions also help the Tucson improve 83% on last year. That leaves the Nissan Qashqai in fourth place among mainstream models with sales virtually stable. A new generation Qashqai is arriving in showrooms right now as well and should help the former class leader recover some of its lost glory. In Q2, the model changeover dropped Nissan’s best seller behind the Toyota C-HR and Kia Sportage. The latter is also due for a redesign later this year and is boosted by discounts on the outgoing model. The Skoda Karoq and Seat Ateca both gain 23% for the year but therefore lose share, while the Opel/Vauxhall Grandland and Citroën C5 Aircross siblings lose even more share at +6% and +13% respectively.
The Jeep Compass is making a comeback at #15 with sales up 72%, while the Cupra Formentor passes the Mazda CX-30 and Renault Kadjar to move into 16th place. The Kadjar is the worst performing model in the class with sales down by a quarter. Some of those losses are recovered by the new Renault Arkana crossover-coupe, selling just over 9,000 units. The Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross is also down on last year, but a recent facelift and the addition of a plug-in hybrid version should help the model recover in the second half of the year. The all-electric Mazda MX-30 lands at #26, while we also welcome a couple of newcomers from the Chinese-Italian DR brand as well as three Chinese brands. The Lynk & Co 01 plug-in hybrid crossover lands at #34, just ahead of the Xpeng G3 EV, which for now is only sold in Norway, while the Seres 3 sells its first 20 units in Europe.
The share of luxury models in this segment is 28.3% in the first half of 2021, up from 26.2% in the same period of 2020. The Volvo XC40 consolidates the overall #4 spot it also took for 2020 with sales up 78% thanks to the PHEV and EV versions. The BMW X1 is up 38% but loses the second place it held in Q1 back to the Audi Q3, up 27% year-on-year. The Mercedes-Benz GLA almost triples up on the first half of last year, when it was in a model changeover. Sales are up 10% for the Range Rover Evoque, while the BMW X2 is up 24% and the Lexus UX is up 35% to move ahead of the Jaguar E-Pace which loses 8% sales and is the only loser among luxury models. We welcome the Audi Q4 e-tron at #29 with its first 1,600 deliveries.
| Compact SUV segment | 2021-H1 | 2020-H1 | Change | 2021 share | 2020 share | |
| 1 | Volkswagen Tiguan (est.) | 90.660 | 71.811 | 26% | 9,3% | 10,1% |
| 2 | Peugeot 3008 | 82.356 | 58.794 | 40% | 8,4% | 8,2% |
| 3 | Hyundai Tucson | 72.472 | 39.625 | 83% | 7,4% | 5,5% |
| 4 | Volvo XC40 | 71.813 | 40.357 | 78% | 7,3% | 5,6% |
| 5 | Nissan Qashqai | 61.971 | 61.429 | 1% | 6,3% | 8,6% |
| 6 | Toyota C-HR | 60.688 | 44.118 | 38% | 6,2% | 6,2% |
| 7 | Audi Q3 | 51.638 | 40.698 | 27% | 5,3% | 5,7% |
| 8 | BMW X1 | 49.279 | 35.657 | 38% | 5,0% | 5,0% |
| 9 | Kia Sportage | 47.302 | 33.245 | 42% | 4,8% | 4,7% |
| 10 | Skoda Karoq | 45.548 | 36.908 | 23% | 4,6% | 5,2% |
| 11 | Seat Ateca | 40.265 | 32.647 | 23% | 4,1% | 4,6% |
| 12 | Mercedes-Benz GLA | 37.933 | 13.888 | 173% | 3,9% | 1,9% |
| 13 | Opel/Vauxhall Grandland X | 36.069 | 33.896 | 6% | 3,7% | 4,7% |
| 14 | Citroën C5 Aircross | 33.894 | 29.897 | 13% | 3,5% | 4,2% |
| 15 | Jeep Compass | 28.846 | 16.757 | 72% | 2,9% | 2,3% |
| 16 | Cupra Formentor | 24.449 | 0 | New | 2,5% | 0,0% |
| 17 | Mazda CX-30 | 24.044 | 22.106 | 9% | 2,5% | 3,1% |
| 18 | Renault Kadjar | 22.227 | 29.548 | -25% | 2,3% | 4,1% |
| 19 | Range Rover Evoque | 20.143 | 18.246 | 10% | 2,1% | 2,6% |
| 20 | BMW X2 | 16.599 | 13.402 | 24% | 1,7% | 1,9% |
| 21 | Lexus UX | 10.064 | 7.437 | 35% | 1,0% | 1,0% |
| 22 | Renault Arkana | 9.053 | 0 | New | 0,9% | 0,0% |
| 23 | Jaguar E-Pace | 7.056 | 7.677 | -8% | 0,7% | 1,1% |
| 24 | Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross | 6.475 | 7.267 | -11% | 0,7% | 1,0% |
| 25 | Mazda MX-30 | 4.254 | 30 | 14080% | 0,4% | 0,0% |
| 26 | Jeep Wrangler | 3.937 | 2.922 | 35% | 0,4% | 0,4% |
| 27 | Subaru XV | 3.485 | 3.400 | 2% | 0,4% | 0,5% |
| 28 | SsangYong Korando | 2.210 | 2.081 | 6% | 0,2% | 0,3% |
| 29 | Audi Q4 | 1.601 | 0 | New | 0,2% | 0,0% |
| 30 | DR5 | 924 | 171 | 440% | 0,1% | 0,0% |
| 31 | DR F35 | 600 | 0 | New | 0,1% | 0,0% |
| 32 | DR EVO 5 | 512 | 0 | New | 0,1% | 0,0% |
| 33 | Lynk & Co 01 | 510 | 0 | New | 0,1% | 0,0% |
| 34 | Xpeng G3 | 234 | 0 | New | 0,0% | 0,0% |
| 35 | DR6 | 119 | 274 | -57% | 0,0% | 0,0% |
| 36 | Seres 3 | 20 | 0 | New | 0,0% | 0,0% |
| Segment total | 979.985 | 714.484 | 37% |
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.