Sales of large SUVs in Europe have been in a downward trend in recent years and that trend continues in the first quarter of 2019 with a decline of 27% in deliveries as this remains the smallest segment of the European car market with fewer than 10.000 sales in the first three months of the year. Interestingly, this same segment is one of the largest in the United States representing over 12% of the total market with just over 500.000 sales in the first quarter, compared to just 0,2% of the European market. Every single nameplate in this class loses volume in Q1 of 2019 and four out of six are down by double digits with the remaining two down by single digits, both helped by recent model updates. The top-3 has been turned upside down with the new generation Hyundai Santa Fe reclaiming the top spot it last held in 2016, even though its sales are still down by 6%. The Santa Fe improves its share of the segment to 26,1% but its sibling Kia Sorento is still very close behind in second place despite losing more than a quarter of its sales. Hyundai-Kia now holds more than half of this segment as the 2017 leader Ford Edge sees its sales plummet by more than a third. The recently facelifted Toyota Land Cruiser gains share as its deliveries are down by just 9%, while the SsangYong Rexton is already down 30% despite still being the second freshest model in the class. The Mitsubishi Pajero (Montero in Spain, Shogun in the UK and Ireland) is down 78% after struggling with the new WLTP standards.
| Large SUV segment | 2019-Q1 | 2018-Q1 | Change | |
| 1 | Hyundai Santa Fe | 2.578 | 2.732 | -6% |
| 2 | Kia Sorento | 2.501 | 3.386 | -26% |
| 3 | Ford Edge | 2.295 | 3.613 | -36% |
| 4 | Toyota Land Cruiser | 1.699 | 1.863 | -9% |
| 5 | SsangYong Rexton | 555 | 797 | -30% |
| 6 | Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero / Shogun | 232 | 1.032 | -78% |
| Segment total | 9.860 | 13.426 | -27% |
Click on any model to see its annual sales from 1997-2018 and monthly sales from 2015 to 2018, or use the dropdown menu in the top right of this site.
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.