The midsized crossover segment remains one of the fastest growing segments in Europe, even faster than the small crossover segment at +28% in the first quarter of 2017, to 371.500 sales. The Nissan Qashqai holds on to its top spot, thanks to sales up 13% on its already impressive score last year, but the Volkswagen Tiguan is closing in quickly with a gain of 78% to come within 10.000 sales. Considering the Tiguan outsold the Qashqai in the second half of last year, this is actually a bit of a disappointment for the model, than may suffer from a bit of cannibalization from the Seat Ateca and to a lesser degree the Skoda Kodiaq. In third place we find the Hyundai Tucson, similar to the full year 2016 ranking, but the facelifted Ford Kuga is growing at double its rate and is not far behind in 4th, up from 6th last year.
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The Kia Sportage is one of only two models in the top-10 to lose volume and does so by only 1%, although that still translates into a loss of almost 2 percentage points of share of the segment. The Sportage can feel newcomer Peugeot 3008 SUV breathing down its neck, which gives PSA some hard-needed success. The 3008 outsells its French rival Renault Kadjar fairly and squarely, as the Kadjar is already down by 12%, which surely must be a disappointing result for the brand. Second newcomer is the Seat Ateca in 8th place, with 5,8% share of the segment it’s already above Seat’s own target of 5%. The top-10 is completed by the Mazda CX-5 and Subaru XV, both up by just single digits, as both are about to be renewed, just like the Jeep Wrangler in 12th place.
A lot of news can be expected again this year, promising another year of growth for the segment: the new generation Mazda CX-5 is already in showrooms and the next generation Jeep Compass will arrive in Europe as well. Subaru will renew the XV, Opel/Vauxhall will launch the Grandland X on the same platform as the Peugeot 3008, and perhaps the Citroën C5 Aircross will make it into showrooms this year too, if not 2018. Mitsubishi will launch a third crossover to fit between the ASX and Outlander: the Eclipse Cross. Ford will do the same, adding a model between the EcoSport and Kuga. Finally, Nissan will facelift the Qashqai.
Also check out the heavily competitive compact SUV segment in the US where the European numbers 2, 3 and 5 are only in 16th, 12th and 15th place respectively.
| Compact SUV segment | 2017-Q1 | 2016-Q1 | Change | |
| 1 | Nissan Qashqai | 74.725 | 66.352 | 13% |
| 2 | Volkswagen Tiguan | 65.660 | 36.811 | 78% |
| 3 | Hyundai Tucson | 41.117 | 36.106 | 14% |
| 4 | Ford Kuga | 39.989 | 30.697 | 30% |
| 5 | Kia Sportage | 37.890 | 38.343 | -1% |
| 6 | Peugeot 3008 | 37.156 | 17.054 | 118% |
| 7 | Renault Kadjar | 29.577 | 33.655 | -12% |
| 8 | Seat Ateca | 21.692 | 26 | New |
| 9 | Mazda CX-5 | 16.164 | 15.816 | 2% |
| 10 | Subaru XV | 2.809 | 2.677 | 5% |
| 11 | Citroën C4 Aircross | 1.673 | 2.712 | -38% |
| 12 | Jeep Wrangler | 960 | 977 | -2% |
| 15 | SsangYong Korando | 869 | 1.075 | -19% |
| 16 | Peugeot 4008 | 458 | 576 | -20% |
| 17 | MG GS | 269 | 0 | New |
| 18 | Opel/Vauxhall Antara | 261 | 1.039 | -75% |
| 19 | Hyundai ix35 | 157 | 5.005 | -97% |
| 20 | Jeep Compass | 104 | 88 | 18% |
| 21 | DR5 | 53 | 50 | 6% |
| Segment total | 371.583 | 289.535 | 28% |
Midsized SUV segment
The midsized crossover segment is up 9% to almost 73.000 sales and here we also have a Nissan on top, as the X-Trail is the fastest growing model in the segment with a gain of 28%, distancing the Toyota RAV4, which is up 16%. The Honda CR-V loses 18% as it awaits the new generation which is already in showrooms in the US, a much more important market for the nameplate. The Mitsubishi Outlander also loses volume, but stays well ahead of newcomer Skoda Kodiaq and Subaru Forester, the latter of which makes an impressive recovery at +16%.
Later this year we’ll welcome the new generation Renault Koleos and the Peugeot 5008 SUV, as well as the 7-seater Volkswagen Tiguan Allspace and another Seat crossover that’s based on that Allspace. Nissan will give the X-Trail the same facelift it already gave the Rogue in the US.
| Midsized SUV segment | 2017-Q1 | 2016-Q1 | Change | |
| 1 | Nissan X-Trail | 22.420 | 17.535 | 28% |
| 2 | Toyota RAV4 | 20.283 | 17.472 | 16% |
| 3 | Honda CR-V | 11.275 | 13.743 | -18% |
| 4 | Mitsubishi Outlander | 9.557 | 10.513 | -9% |
| 5 | Skoda Kodiaq | 3.774 | 0 | New |
| 6 | Subaru Forester | 3.653 | 3.159 | 16% |
| 7 | Jeep Cherokee | 1.806 | 2.810 | -36% |
| 8 | Renault Koleos | 64 | 108 | -41% |
| 9 | Fiat Freemont | 1 | 1.642 | -100% |
| Segment total | 72.833 | 66.982 | 9% |
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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.