European sales of midsized crossovers are up 11% in the first quarter of 2021, beating a stable overall market. With a total of just over 255,000 deliveries, midsized crossovers now make up 8.3% of the total European car market, up from 7.5% in Q1 of 2020 and from 7.9% in all of 2020.
Like the midsized car segment, this is the smallest class where luxury brands outsell their mainstream rivals, at 50.5% share of the midsized crossover class, down from 50.9% in Q1 of 2020 but up from 50.1% in full year 2020. If last year the Mercedes-Benz GLC took the top spot of the ranking, this year it starts off the podium. The GLC loses 16% year-on-year and drops to fourth place. The Ford Kuga returns to the segment leadership it also held in 2019 but lost last year. The Kuga started 2020 very slowly because of a large number of self-registrations of the outgoing generation at the end of 2019, and that’s why its comparison to Q1 2020 is artificially boosted, up 318%. Still, with nearly 31,000 deliveries the Kuga is more than 5,000 deliveries ahead of its nearest rival Toyota RAV4, which is up 24%. The Skoda Kodiaq is in third place among mainstream models and fifth overall with sales down 2%, and the Peugeot 5008 is down 6% into fourth place among mainstream and 7th overall. The Volkswagen Tiguan Allspace, which we estimate at 15% of total Tiguan sales since our data doesn’t split those versions, is up 6% and distances its clone Seat Tarraco, down 9%. The Mazda CX-5 drops between the two VW Group twins with sales down 10%.
The all-electric Volkswagen ID.4 lands at #15 overall, ahead of the Mitsubishi Outlander which is down by more than half as the brand announced its departure from the European market, which was later reversed. The Honda CR-V and Nissan X-Trail don’t do much better at -35% and -41% respectively. Further below, the Subaru Forester is down 2% at #26 overall and the Renault Koleos is down 44% at #28. We welcome the ID.4’s sibling Skoda Enyaq at #30, ahead of two fellow EVs Aiways U5 and Ford Mustang Mach-E. The Suzuki Across hasn’t found its stride yet with just 46 sales.
The luxury part of the segment is, as mentioned above, larger than the mainstream midsized crossover segment, and the Mercedes-Benz GLC lost the overall segment lead with sales down 16%. That has pushed the Volvo XC60 to #1 among luxury models and third place overall with sales up 22%. The BMW X3 is up 17% and distances the Audi Q5, down 6%. The Mercedes-Benz GLB enters the top-10, ahead of the Land Rover Discovery Sport, its most direct rival as both are available with an optional third row. The DS7 Crossback is down 21% while the Mercedes-Benz EQC is picking up momentum with sales almost tripling to pass the Porsche Macan. Just outside the overall top-20, the Jaguar F-Pace and Alfa Romeo Stelvio move closer to one another while passing the BMW X4. The electric Jaguar I-Pace is down 26% which is a better performance than expected since it had a large number of self-registrations in December. Instead, the Range Rover Velar is among the biggest losers of the class at -74%, together with the Jeep Cherokee at -75%. We welcome the Tesla Model Y to the ranking with its first 331 deliveries.
| Midsized SUV segment | 2021-Q1 | 2020-Q1 | Change | 2021 share | 2020 share | |
| 1 | Ford Kuga | 30.994 | 7.420 | 318% | 12,2% | 3,2% |
| 2 | Toyota RAV4 | 26.340 | 21.186 | 24% | 10,3% | 9,2% |
| 3 | Volvo XC60 | 21.670 | 17.714 | 22% | 8,5% | 7,7% |
| 4 | Mercedes-Benz GLC | 21.322 | 25.244 | -16% | 8,4% | 11,0% |
| 5 | Skoda Kodiaq | 18.308 | 18.645 | -2% | 7,2% | 8,1% |
| 6 | BMW X3 | 17.070 | 14.588 | 17% | 6,7% | 6,3% |
| 7 | Peugeot 5008 | 15.107 | 16.107 | -6% | 5,9% | 7,0% |
| 8 | Audi Q5 | 12.361 | 13.165 | -6% | 2,6% | 3,0% |
| 9 | Mercedes-Benz GLB | 10.830 | 3.033 | 257% | 4,2% | 1,3% |
| 10 | Volkswagen Tiguan Allspace (est.) | 7.923 | 7.468 | 6% | 1,7% | 1,7% |
| 11 | Mazda CX-5 | 7.381 | 8.163 | -10% | 2,9% | 3,6% |
| 12 | Land Rover Discovery Sport | 6.697 | 7.669 | -13% | 1,4% | 1,8% |
| 13 | Seat Tarraco | 6.237 | 6.841 | -9% | 2,4% | 3,0% |
| 14 | DS7 Crossback | 5.730 | 7.287 | -21% | 1,2% | 1,7% |
| 15 | Volkswagen ID.4 | 5.545 | 35 | +++ | 2,2% | 0,0% |
| 16 | Mitsubishi Outlander | 4.885 | 11.465 | -57% | 1,0% | 2,6% |
| 17 | Mercedes-Benz EQC | 4.239 | 1.505 | 182% | 1,7% | 0,7% |
| 18 | Porsche Macan | 4.194 | 3.883 | 8% | 0,9% | 0,9% |
| 19 | Honda CR-V | 3.842 | 5.899 | -35% | 1,5% | 2,6% |
| 20 | Nissan X-Trail | 3.841 | 6.500 | -41% | 0,8% | 1,5% |
| 21 | Jaguar F-Pace | 3.713 | 3.968 | -6% | 1,5% | 1,7% |
| 22 | Alfa Romeo Stelvio | 3.704 | 3.599 | 3% | 0,8% | 0,8% |
| 23 | BMW X4 | 3.501 | 4.330 | -19% | 1,4% | 1,9% |
| 24 | Lexus NX | 3.466 | 3.887 | -11% | 0,7% | 0,9% |
| 25 | Jaguar I-Pace | 1.564 | 2.106 | -26% | 0,6% | 0,9% |
| 26 | Subaru Forester | 1.520 | 1.544 | -2% | 0,3% | 0,4% |
| 27 | Range Rover Velar | 1.077 | 4.079 | -74% | 0,4% | 1,8% |
| 28 | Renault Koleos | 958 | 1.720 | -44% | 0,2% | 0,4% |
| 29 | Tesla Model Y | 331 | 0 | New | 0,1% | 0,0% |
| 30 | Skoda Enyaq | 298 | 0 | New | 0,1% | 0,0% |
| 31 | Jeep Cherokee | 144 | 576 | -75% | 0,1% | 0,3% |
| 32 | Aiways U5 | 69 | 0 | New | 0,0% | 0,0% |
| 33 | Ford Mustang Mach-E | 69 | 0 | New | 0,0% | 0,0% |
| 34 | Mahindra XUV500 | 59 | 79 | -25% | 0,0% | 0,0% |
| 35 | Hyundai Nexo | 48 | 107 | -55% | 0,0% | 0,0% |
| 36 | Suzuki Across | 46 | 0 | New | 0,0% | 0,0% |
| Segment total | 255.083 | 229.812 | 11% |
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.