The subcompact car segment grew by 3% in 2016, about half the overall market growth of 6,2%, but it remains the largest segment in Europe by a large margin. At the top of the ranking, we have a change of guard. For only the second time since 2009 the Ford Fiesta is not Europe’s best selling subcompact car and for the first time in a decade the Renault Clio is the segment leader. We’ve had three different leaders in three quarters, with the Fiesta in the lead after the first quarter, but the Clio took over in Q3, while the Volkswagen Polo became the segment best seller in Q3. By year end, the Clio ended up on top with sales up 3% to just 3,500 ahead of the Polo, while the Fiesta lost 5% of its volume to drop below 300,000 annual sales for only the second time since 2002. The Clio has just been slightly facelifted and the Polo will be updated soon, but there will be an all-new generation of the Fiesta later this year, which should help the nameplate recover some of the lost ground.
In fourth place, the Opel/Vauxhall Corsa holds on despite a 2% loss of volume, as an all-new generation is expected to arrive in showrooms later this year. The Peugeot 208 enjoys the highest volume since its launch in 2012 in fifth place, while the Toyota Yaris also continues to improve to its highest sales since 2009. The same thing can be said for the Skoda Fabia, but at least this performance can be attributed to its latest generation, the Yaris has been virtually unchanged since 2013 but has steadily improved since. The fastest growing model in the top-15 is the Dacia Sandero, improving further on its volume record set last year. The Citroën C3 has just been renewed, but the effect of the new generation has only been noticeable in the last month of the year. Still, the C3 managed an 8% increase to hold on to its #9 position, and in 2017 it has its sights firmly set on returning to 200,000+ annual sales for the first time since 2010.
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