The midsized SUV segment in Europe sees its impressive growth rate of +15% in Q1 slow down slightly to a still enviable +11% in the first half of 2015, especially considering the segment continues to outpace the overall market, which is up 8%.
Photo Credit: L’ArgusThe traditional leader of the segment Nissan Qashqai manages to do even better than the segment as a whole, with sales up 13% to almost 125.000 units. This means the Qashqai has a chance hit the quarter million sales marker for the entire year if it keeps up this sales pace. Add to that the 586% increase to over 20.000 sales in 6 months for its larger sibling Nissan X-Trail, and also the successful introduction of the Renault Kadjar on the same platform, and we could be looking at potential sales of 350.000 Renault-Nissan SUVs from a common architecture this year. And as Kriss will surely show you in an article about US sales, Nissan is also on a roll across the Atlantic, where the X-Trail (called Rogue there) is breaking sales records every month, with factories in the US and Japan running at full capacity and still unable to fulfill demand. They’re now producing the Rogue in a third plant in Busan, South Korea, which is operated by Renault-Samsung Motors.
The aging Volkswagen Tiguan can’t keep up with these kinds of volumes and is down 9% but keeps its second place of the segment. Behind it, the two Korean siblings are neck-and-neck for the podium, with the Kia Sportage holding on to its third place ahead of the Hyundai ix35 and looking set to remain ahead for the rest of the year, as the ix35’s successor has just been launched in June. We find the Tucson (hey, that’s a familiar name, isn’t it?) in 27th place for now with its first 107 sales. As the months progress, that will undoubtedly grow to a monthly pace of around 10.000 sales, so a top-15 position by the end of the year should be possible, before becoming a podium contender in 2016, together with the Kadjar.
The Ford Kuga keeps improving as well, with sales up almost a quarter on last year, to top 50.000 sales for the half and closing in on the Koreans. In fact, the Kuga outsold those two in June, grabbing the segment’s third place that month, so the battle is on for the next two quarters. The recently facelifted Skoda Yeti moves back ahead of the Toyota RAV4 despite both models showing a slowdown of their sales increases and the Yeti even down for the quarter when compared to Q2 of 2014. Sales of the RAV4 are flat in Q2. Behind the Mazda CX-5 and Honda CR-V, both down with single digits, the two Mitsubishi offerings show impressive gains at +38% for the aging ASX and +41% for the Outlander, with a slightly lower than before PHEV share of 61%. The Suzuki S-Cross is possibly hurt by cannibalization of the slightly smaller but all-new Vitara and the Jeep Cherokee appears to have found its sweet spot at just over 1.000 monthly sales in Europe.
2015 first half midsized crossover sales Europe
| Midsized SUV segment | H1 2015 | H1 2014 | Change | |
| 1. | Nissan Qashqai | 124.346 | 110.125 | 13% |
| 2. | Volkswagen Tiguan | 75.517 | 83.013 | -9% |
| 3. | Kia Sportage | 56.691 | 48.820 | 16% |
| 4. | Hyundai ix35 | 56.476 | 47.394 | 19% |
| 5. | Ford Kuga | 51.884 | 41.757 | 24% |
| 6. | Skoda Yeti | 33.862 | 32.236 | 5% |
| 7. | Toyota RAV4 | 31.541 | 28.566 | 10% |
| 8. | Mazda CX-5 | 29.412 | 30.536 | -4% |
| 9. | Honda CR-V | 25.144 | 27.109 | -7% |
| 10. | Mitsubishi ASX | 23.823 | 17.283 | 38% |
| 11. | Mitsubishi Outlander | 22.515 | 15.958 | 41% |
| 12. | Nissan X-Trail | 20.384 | 2.970 | 586% |
| 13. | Suzuki S-Cross | 16.685 | 21.438 | -22% |
| 14. | Subaru Forester | 7.752 | 7.322 | 6% |
| 15. | Fiat Freemont | 7.355 | 8.927 | -18% |
| 16. | Renault Kadjar | 7.087 | 0 | new |
| 17. | Jeep Cherokee | 7.049 | 2.617 | 169% |
| 18. | Citroën C4 Aircross | 6.044 | 6.240 | -3% |
| 19. | Subaru XV | 4.915 | 5.598 | -12% |
| 20. | Renault Koleos | 3.980 | 3.972 | 0% |
| 21. | Opel/Vauxhall Antara | 3.714 | 4.580 | -19% |
| 22. | SsangYong Korando | 3.451 | 2.172 | 59% |
| 23. | Jeep Wrangler | 2.903 | 2.597 | 12% |
| 24. | Suzuki Grand Vitara | 2.017 | 3.685 | -45% |
| 25. | Peugeot 4008 | 1.313 | 1.350 | -3% |
| 26. | Jeep Compass | 381 | 3.428 | -89% |
| 27. | Hyundai Tucson | 107 | 0 | new |
| 28. | DR5 | 98 | 30 | 227% |
| 29. | Chevrolet Captiva | 35 | 2.751 | -99% |
| Segment total | 626.481 | 562.474 | 11% |
Click on any model to see its annual sales from 1997-2013 and monthly sales in 2012, 2013 and 2014, or use the dropdown menu in the top right of this site. Sources: Manufacturers, ANDC, JATO Dynamics. Sources: Manufacturers, ANDC, JATO Dynamics.